Halo: The 4 Horsemen
by pillerofautumn
Summary: I've changed a few things about the real Halo, bare with me. I also created some new stuff for the Spartans to use. Hope people enjoy reading this fic, as the only reason I keep writing is for the people who like it.
1. Unlikely Alliance

Halo 2: The 4 Horsemen CHAPTER 1 ========================== 

**0830 hours September 03, 2581 (Military Calendar)/**

**Epsilon Eridani System, UNSC battleship _December's Hail_**

**Blast doors; stern of the ship Orbit around Earth**

The Master Chief gulped as he looked through the plexi glass that surrounded the blast doors. He looked down at Earth, more that 10,000 meters away. He knew the next mission was no picnic, since he was informed in the ALPHA-CC, straight from ONI. Which was the top priority channel. He executed a perfect about face to do a head count quickly.

"4, and me it's 5. Ok team, I hope you're ready for this," Master Chief tried to say this without fear in his voice. But it was hard, since he wasn't well versed; he didn't know what weapons would be needed, or even who he was fighting for or against. But like the leaders before him, he tried to be the best, so he could influence his team to be the best they could be. He knew if he fell apart, his team would be nothing without him. "This won't be easy, and you know that. Our mission, John?"

John, the AI, took a minute to think, and then answered, "I checked it out, all you have to do is go down to Earth, assignation is at the White House, and pick up the president. When you have him in your possetion. Call for pick up. Only then will a Pelican pick you up, and dock back here, at December's Hail."

The Master Chief sighed. This mission caught them off their feet. But this would be a lesson to Master Chief and his Spartans; never let your guard down, not even for a minute. They were informed less than 2 hours ago. The Spartans suited up in minutes, and check their inventory before they were fully ready.

"John," Master Chief scuffed out. "Why won't there be Pelican drop off."

"Sorry, Nick, due to the high amounts of Covenants, the UNSC has sent out all their available Pelicans and Marines. By the time you reach planet Earth; which is estimated to be 4 minutes and 32 seconds, there will be available Pelicans done with their current drop offs." John took a deep breath.

John, the AI, was named after the Master Chief from the 2550's. In his memory, he had given his life to destroy the last of the Covenant ships. He infiltrated the Covenants home planet, set a bomb inside the core, and set it off. He knew the Covenants were after him, and weren't far behind. He knew if he left the bomb unguarded, the Covenants might diffuse it. In the years they fought against the humans, they had learned too much from them. He sat back and waited till his death. That killed the last of the warships and Covenant bodies. Cleaning up 2 or 3 more ships in space, and that was the end of the Covenants. Before he went down with the alien world, he said one last thing on his COMS that no one will ever forget. "This is the true meaning of 'a life spent, not a life wasted'."

But not to their knowledge, that wasn't the only alien world. Like Earth and the many human invested planets, there were more that were even more advanced then the old Covenant world. And now is when those Covenants came out to fight to gain revenge.

John, the AI, had chosen his own appearance; he chose a MJOLNIR IV suit. He decided he wanted to look like the Master Chief, if he were alive this day. Even thought the Master Chief would be 54 years old and most likely unable to fight. The injections the Spartans got wore off after about 50 years. And since the injections brought out all the latent strengths, when it wore off, it would leave your body drained.

The MJOLNIR IV suit is not different than the III, or the II, or even the I. It protected the same places, but it could camouflage to the background automatically from the eyes of the enemy. In real, the MJOLNIR armor is a blackish green tint.

It also showed a wider range of it's Motion Sensor, and was color coordinated. The enemies were red, allies green, and civilians blue. And the Motion Sensor didn't zoom in on movement, but heartbeat.

A major improvement was that it had an onboard AI. Master Chief's was John, and each of Master Chief's Spartans had one each, that most brought out their form. This onboard AI made calculations a cinch, and when needed more information, transition didn't have to travel back to base, and get back, which could take up to 10 seconds; your AI could quickly inform you, since it was linked up to ONI. And as Cortana—rest in piece—did with Spartan-117, the onboard AI could help dodge enemy fire, and even give you calculations on how, or when to move.

"John!" Master Chief said silently, turning off his COM to the others. "Don't call me Nick in front of the guys, I'm Master Chief."

"Sorry, sir, I am at fault."

Master Chief turned on his shared COM again.

"Ok Spartans, as soon as I open the blast doors, we will be sucked out as a lack of atmosphere. Set your boosters toward the White House."

"Pinpointed on the map." John added, as an X appeared on everyone's maps of Earth from outer space.

"If you were to get separated, regroup outside the White House lawn," Master Chief ordered. "There _will_ likely be Covenants, so be careful. That is all. Good luck."

Master Chief went over to a pillar, 10 meters away from the blast doors. He opened a side hatch, and pulled out a red handle. He pulled on it quickly. The Atmosphere was sucked out, and made the SPARTANs feel like they were being pulled. But their MJOLNIR suits kept them bolted down fast, and would only move if the Spartans wanted to be moved.

"Ready?" Master Chief asked as he turned and looked at his Spartans.

"Sir," The Spartans replied. "Yes, sir!"

Master Chief released the gravity from inside of his suit, and he was quickly pulled out of the ship. He turned on his boosts, and was quickly pulled toward the X on his map. He would turn around, but the pressure of the gravity, and the force of the boost could tear his body in half.

As he entered the atmosphere of Earth, his coolant automatically turned on inside his suit. It became cooler, so the heat he was getting was cancelled out. He pierced the atmosphere like a hot knife through butter. A shield of flames surrounded the Chief as he passed through, as quick as a bullet. But the MJOLNIR took the damage. The Spartans shield, which had been upgraded many, many times before, shimmered blue and white, but as the atmosphere started to be left behind, the shield started to return to it's opaque self.

When he passed through the multiple atmospheres, he could see the blue oceans, and wide green lands. He knew how beautiful Earth was, and the people on it, and that's why the UNSC protect it with their life. When he passed all the atmospheres, his boosters shut off by overheating.

He turned around to see the Spartans, and do a head count.

"5… good. We're all here… and alive."

He knew of the dangers of going through the atmospheres, but he never paid dangers much mind. His job was to follow orders, not question them. Despite they could have been turned into ashes and rained down to Earth, or they could have been ripped in half. He knew he was in for a long wait, the ETA was 4 minutes and 32, and only about 30 seconds passed.

As he reached near 2000 meters, Master Chief heard Ada, the smartest Spartan, ask her AI how much time was left.

"52 seconds and counting CPO Lockheart."

"Thank you, Devine."

She looked at Master Chief as Master Chief looked at her. She pointed to her wrist, asking the Master Chief if he was deploying the chute. He shook his head.

"Do it when I do."

The Chief turned back around and faced the Earth.

1000 meters

He wondered if he should do it now, but no, he wanted to get closer. If he did it now, they would be wasting time.

750 meters

He felt his heart racing as he neared the ground. From here, he could see the large cubed wall that defended the White House. And the machine guns that were stationed at each of the 4 corners. These guns were already firing at the Banshees and Phantoms that flew around the perimeter.

500 meters

The Spartans played with their handles, ready to press it anytime.

250 meters

Master Chief held his handle as well. He breathed a passing breath, and drew it back swiftly.

150 meters

"NOW!"

The Chief unleashed his chute, as he slowed down, he wondered if it would be enough to slow and stop the heavy, but light MJOLNIR IV suit. He was going way to fast. He looked down at the others, who were now under him, since he pulled the handle before they did, and got a head start on slowing down, and saw that they deployed theirs as well. He felt a feeling of sickness as the ground was nearly under him

50 meters

He tightened his grip around the guiding handle, and guided himself toward the White House lawn. He gritted his teeth and closed his eyes, hoping to make it. His instincts would kick in when he touched the ground, which is why he closed his eyes. Or was it John who would kick in?

25 meters

He could see the Covenants fighting against the humans, and wondered if he just had killed his team and himself by pulling the lever too late. He pulled back his legs to his chest, ready to roll as soon as he hit the ground. He would have turned on his boosters, but it was too over heated from the atmospheres. He saw the floor rush up to him, and the last thing he saw was the Covenants breaking into the White House through doors and windows.

… Then everything went black…

CHAPTER 2 ========================== 

**0845 hours September 03, 2581 (Military Calendar)/**

**Epsilon Eridani System White House Square**

**White House Lawn On Earth**

Master Chief slowly opened his eyes. He was on his back, facing the sky. He looked at the clouds as they moved ever so leisurely. He could have sworn he saw a cloud shaped like his MA8B.

His MA8B was the best weapon so far in the Spartan arsenal. It was light, compact, and quick firing. It could fire 25 12 millimeter rounds per second. In a minute, it unleashes whooping 1500 rounds. But it had a decent side. If put into manual firing, it switched to a 9 mm piercing round. It was hollow tip, and could go through the Covenant shields, and the house behind it.

Master Chief shifted. He was uncomfortable in the position he was in, so he laid up. He scanned his surroundings, and saw that White House Officers were protecting the team; who had been knocked out from the fall… or dead…

Master Chief stood up and started to fire upon the Covenants. He pressed the trigger once, and an automatic shower of bullets hit a Brute. It pierced his unprotected skin. 5 bullets passed through his skin, and hit the Grunt behind him. The Grunt quickly hit the ground, as the shots pierced his skull, but the Brute stayed standing. It let out a shout of pain. The officer turned to the Brute and fired their MA9B.

Like always, the White House operatives were 1 step ahead of the Spartans. Their weapons, the Spartans had never seen before, non-the-less, know it was out yet, were much faster firing, and most likely hurt a couple times more. The Master Chief was going to have a talk with the UNSC about that. The Spartans were supposed to be the best, but how can they be the best without the best equipment.

Master Chief noticed some off his team members stirring, but before he could help, 3 officers in white armor confronted him. One of the officers had Grunt blood on him, which was not much, since Grunts never bleed much anyways.

"Sir!" The main officer said, the one officer had 3 's and 2 's on his suit, a Sergeant First Class. "Nickolas-238?"

Master Chief nodded. "I am Nickolas-238. What is it Sergeant?"

The Sergeant looked uneasy, like he had something to say, but wanted to hide it.

"We are waiting for your pick up, Master Chief."

Master Chief shook his head and scrounged his eyes hard.

"How long have me and my team been out, Sergeant?"

The SFC took a minute to think.

"I'd say… about 4 or 5 minutes. You and your team landed pretty hard." He turned and pointed to them, most still on the ground, some now standing and shaking off their lethargies. "We've been protecting you since then."

Master Chief nodded and put a hand on the SFC's shoulder.

"We owe you our lives."

"No problem, Master Chief."

Master Chief went over to his standing teammate, Dilon, the strongest SPARTAN.

"Dilon!"

"Sir!" He said as he snapped to attention and gave a quick salute.

"Are you ok?"

Dilon let go a little, and nodded.

"Yessir, I'm finer than ever."

Dilon dropped his salute and opened fire on the Jackals that were getting close to the knocked out Spartans. The Jackal's shield disabled from a shot from a Officer's MA9B, and the rest of the bullets Dilon fired went into the Jackal, sending trails of blue-purple blood up to 12 inches away. The Jackal fell to his knees, holding its gut, where the spray of bullets went into. It then fell to the ground, lifeless.

Master Chief shook the rest of the sleeping SPARTANs, stirring them too. Luckily, they were all alive. Master Chief let out a sigh of relief.

"Good to have you back," Master Chief exclaimed, not aware that his happiness was teeming. "And all alive."

The Spartans stood up and gave a sloppy salute.

"Phantoms! Need back up!" An Officer's voice came over the public CC.

Dilon looked up at the sky, and saw the Phantom. He turned back to the Chief, to see what he would say.

The Phantom was like a Pelican, a drop off and pick up ship that carried units. It also was equipped with 4 quick firing Plasma lasers. But unlike the Pelican, there was more than the cockpit and the drop area. There were corridors that lead to medic rooms and such. Seems the Covenants had learned more from the humans than the humans learned from the Covenants.

"Get your weapons ready, Spartans." The Chief said as he cocked his gun. "We're going into the White House."

"We're not helping them?" Eddie, the fastest Spartan said in disbelief.

The Master Chief shook his head. "Negative. Our mission is to extract the president. Once the president is safely off the ground, then we can request permission to fall back and fight. Understood?"

"Understood." The Spartans spoke as one person.

The Master Chief walked; crouch like, toward the White House porch. The door was busted in, from when Master Chief saw the Covenants break in. He did a recon as he stepped into the house, his team covering his 6. When the coast was clear, he stood up straight.

"John?" Master Chief said as he put his hand to his ear region, to hear well over the battle sounds outside. "What room is the president located in?"

"You should know by the fact that there's a UNSC flag across the double white doors. Other than that, I have no info. The White House doesn't trust anyone with a map of this place. If it were to fall into the wrong hands, the secrets of the White House, and the world would be revealed."

"Thanks, John." Master Chief turned to his team. "Did you all hear that? Going as 1 large group is dangerous, as we have a hard time dodging Plasma if there are too many off us around. So let's slip up into 5 different teams, everyone on their own."

"Aye, sir," The Spartans replied.

The Spartans took each separate routes, each covering each other's blind spots, before they went their separate ways.

"Remember, when you find the president," Master Chief told his team through his COM. "Place a white marker on your map. If you need help, place a black marker on your map, understand?" The Chief was answered by 4 yellow blinks on his HUD.

He then took the only route left to go. The president's house was big, and it may be minutes before they even find the floor his room is on, but he was certain they'd do it in time.

As the Chief turned around a corner, he was faced by 3 Grunts talking. He turned back the way he came, and slide up against the wall, listening to their conversation. But their language was not understandable, but another secret feature of the MJOLNIR IV suit is the translation of the Covenant language. So when the Covenants weren't talking English, they could still understand anyways.

"We don't need him, one human won't make a difference," Their accent was weird and hard to understand, but Master Chief made due.

"Idiot, Babal," The second Grunt spoke. "This is the leader of the Spartans. If we capture him, the Spartans will give up. They won't give up his life."

"Yeah," The third Grunt now spoke. "This distraction is only a distraction. Right now, Mera 'Gamumee is headed for December's Hail with an army of Covenants. With the Spartans down here, the ship is unprotected. As the puny humans still can't destroy our Covenant ships!"

The Master Chief's jaw dropped. He was surprised at what he heard. Uncaring for how loud he was, he screamed over the COM.

"John! Transmit this message to the vessel December's Hail! The Covenants aren't going for the president; they're going for Dr. Kelly!"

John took a second to absorb the shocking news.

"Right away, Chief," John exclaimed.

The Covenants got scared by Master Chief, and ran away with their hands in the air, screaming.

"Run away! They're here!"

The December's Hail answered back to Master Chief.

_"Master Chief, if this is what you truly heard, then we're in danger, we have sent a Pelican to your location. Gather your team and rendezvous outside the back of the White House._

_"And the president, we'll send Marines down on the Pelican meant to pick you up. The Marines can handle the Covenants until more Marines can come pick him up. Your new mission will be to board the Covenant ship and wipe out the units aboard."_

The Master Chief called to his Spartans.

"Team, come in," He said. "Come in team?"

There were 4 yellow lights that blinked on Master Chief's HUD, signaling that the Spartans were there.

"New mission. We are to rendezvous outside the White House, on the back lawn, and get picked up. The Covenants were never gunning for the president; they were going for Dr. Kelly, this was a distraction. Massive forces of humans are down here, and none are protecting the ship. Sorry to say, the president can be replaced, but Dr. Kelly… he can't be replaced by anyone. So this mission is top priority. Execute mission."

4 more yellow blinks signaled a confirmation from all the Spartans.

A few minutes later, the Spartans all met outside the White House. From a distance, they could see the Pelican coming down from the sky. The same, plain old Pelican. They had gone this far in technology, and they can't even remake the Pelican a new design.

Since the 2550's, there have been quite a lot of advances. Like the Spider; a slick new, blue hover car that traveled at over 3000 meters per second. The Spider had no tires, so it used UNSC technology to hover inches off the ground. It had mini-guns on the side of the headlight. It could be retracted and controlled by the passenger side. The Spider also had 6 missiles installed onto the spoilers. The missiles homed in onto targets and followed them until the target, or the missile is destroyed.

Or the Anaconda; a train that runs off of tracks. The Anaconda has 6 cars, each which can hold up to 85 Marines. The Anaconda runs on pillars that stick out of the ground, 24 inches in the air. It pulls the Anaconda toward the pillar, and that's what makes it move and not fall. The train is empty of its seats, and can be loaded onto air or sea transport ships. And like the Pelican, it's strictly a transport ship, that's why the Anaconda is lightly armed.

The last advance is the Water Stryder. This ship is the largest ship ever created. It stands 30 meters high, and is over 1,000 meters in length. This sea vessel is 3 things. 1, it's a transport ship that can hold air, or land transports, or even land units like Marines. 2, it's a battle ship. It is heavy loaded, and has nuclear missiles that can be fired underwater. It has 30 missile pods, and can scan the waters faster than any ship made at 7000 knots. And 3, it's a submarine that can dive to the bottom of the deepest ocean. The Stryder can dive up to 8,000 leagues under the sea.

The Pelican hovered slightly over the green grass of the White House lawn. The Spartans loaded up as the Marines that the Pelican dropped gave them cover fire. The Pelican started to lift up and shot up into the stars.

"Master Chief, can you hear me, Master Chief?"

"Yes, COM 1?" Master Chief replied.

COM's were computer monitors inside the UNSC HQ, which had human traits, and thought like one. There were over 20 COM's in all.

"Master Chief," COM 1 repeated. "You will be dropped off at the Covenant blast door. December's Hail will fire 25 missiles at the same place, aimed at the blast door. The shield around the ship will most likely break."

"When it does," Master Chief interrupted her. "We will have a little time before the shield is self-repaired."

"Correct. So you will have to use the boosters to get close and land on the blast door. By then, we will most likely have hacked into the Covenant system and tapped into the door, and open it."

"Right." Master Chief sighed and looked at his team. He was scared, because unlike any other mission, if they failed this mission, not only will the only remaining Spartans be wiped out, but also the only one who can 'create' more Spartans will be taken away. And with those odds, the human race will start to crumble. And soon, the Covenants will win.

"Alright team," Master Chief spoke with a sudden burst of confidence. "You all heard that. Now let's go and make it true!"

"Sir," The Spartans said with sudden confidence filled in them as well. "Yes, sir!"

CHAPTER 3 ========================== 

**0935 hours September 03, 2581 (Military Calendar)/**

**Epsilon Eridani System UNSC Pelican**

**En Route to Covenant Ship Orbit around Earth**

Master Chief looked out toward the advancing Covenant ship. He could see December's Hail from the head window, and the Covenant ship was reaching it fast. They had been trading shots for a while, the Covenant ship and December's Hail. The Chief also noticed the MAC guns on December's Hail were destroyed. But as the Pelican neared the blast doors, the pods were activated, and 25 missiles were fired toward the blast doors. The Pelican shook from the continues explosions.

"Go Spartans!" Master Chief spoke as he jumped out of the back of the Pelican, and turned on his boosters. He went straight for the blast doors, and hoped the shield was destroyed, if not, he would ricochet and be shot away, and the mission would be failed. He closed his eyes as he passed the shield. He sighed a breath of relief as he latched onto the blast doors of the Covenant ship.

"Accessing Covenant database." John said through CC-SPARTAN, which was a Chat Channel that could be heard all the way to the December's Hail. "Be done in a minute."

That was another advance in the human technology. It had channels that could be entered by entering the name of the channel and the password. The SPARTAN CC was, name; SPARTAN and password; Dr. Jack Kelly. There were millions of channels that can be accessed. Each with different purposes.

The door opened, and the SPARTANs jumped inside the Covenant ship.

"Done."

"We can see that, John," Master Chief quickly replied. "Thank you."

The Master Chief stood up and covered the Spartans as they stood up and organized themselves. Master Chief looked at his surroundings, he saw 4 doors in this hanger. 3 with red illuminating lights coming for the edges, and 1 with white.

"Entered Covenant vessel," Master Chief said in CC-SPARTAN. "Carrying out mission."

_"Roger that, Master Chief," _A reply came from December's Hail._ "We're rooting for you. December's Hail, over."_

Master Chief looked back at his team, to see if they were ready to go. They were.

"Alright team, let's move out."

"Sir, yes, sir!"

Master Chief moved toward the white door, knowing that the red ones were locked doors. The door swung open, and in that hallway were 3 Jackals, and 4 Grunts. The SPARTANs fired on Grunts, dropping them instantly.

Eddie, who was the fastest Spartan, shot forward to attack the Jackals in hand-to-hand. The rest of the Spartans kept fire on him minimum by firing onto the Jackals shield, so they wouldn't get from behind it. Eddie reached the 1 Jackal, and he punched through the shield, disabling it.

The team fired onto that Jackal, making sure they didn't hit Eddie. The bullets went through the Jackal, killing it immediately.

Eddie then turned around and kicked the next Jackal's shield, disabling that ones. And before the team could fire, Eddie grabbed the Jackal and threw it toward the last Jackal. The flying Jackal dissolved the shield. Then Eddie hit the wall.

As both Jackals stood up with disabled shields, the team opened fire on the front one. The bullets ripped through him and hit the back one, killing them both as one.

Eddie backed up to where the team was, and when he did, the team pressed forward. They rounded the corner and saw 3 Elites. The Elites grunted and took cover behind the many corridors in front of the Spartans. From time to time, they left their hiding spots to unleash a few rounds of Plasma on the Spartans.

"Mack," Master Chief said loudly. "Snipe them."

"Aye." Mack was the best sniper there was, he could snipe a dot from 5 miles away. His suit was also specially made to help his sniping skills, as it helped in homing in and keeping a steady hand. The armor added 5x to any weapons homing system.

The next time an Elite came out from its hiding place, it got 1 shot to the middle of its forehead. The JKS-14 round went through the Elite's shield, making it shimmer blue and white, and dissolve, and finished by going through his head, and hit the Elite behind him. They both fell, dead.

"Ha!" Mack said as he raised one hand in the air. "2 for the price of 1!"

The last Elite was taken out by all the SPARTANs. They all opened fire onto the Elite. The shield around him was destroy, and he was down on the floor in seconds. This hallway was clear of any Covenant units.

The team marched on, trying to find the control room. After a while inside the Covenant ship, and after taking down only 10 more Grunts, they found the control room.

"This ship was almost empty," Ada told Master Chief. "Maybe most of the Covenant's are down on Earth… But why would they attack December's Hail when they are at a weakened stage… Seems to me like the Covenants can plan."

"Either way, Ada," Master Chief said after thinking about what she said. "We have to destroy this ship. Dilon? Explosives."

Dilon placed a couple of rounds of explosives under the ship's control panel. They set the timer for 2 minutes, since the ship was most likely empty. When the time was set, the Spartans ran for the docks. There, the SPARTANs hijacked a Phantom, the Covenant drop ship.

They exited the ship by breaking through the energy field that covered the dock door. The Phantom headed for Earth, as they needed to pick up the president as well.

"Mission complete," Master Chief called out in CC-SPARTAN. "Covenant ship obliterated."

When he got no reply, he remembered the new Covenant alloy attached to the ships made human-based contact treacherous. But only rumors were true, as when humans tried to contact the Covenants didn't answer back anyways. So they couldn't be proven.

The Phantom had no trouble going through the atmosphere, but the heat passed through like metal over fire. But when the Spartans hit the ground, they got an incoming message from December's Hail.

"Help! A rebel ship has kidnapped Dr. Kelly! They demanded you go to their planet in Epsilon Demitri System. They also said for only 3 people to go, no more. Hurry and get Dr. Kelly back."

The Spartans looked at each other with worried eyes.

"Could it be possible?" Ada asked a rhetorical question.

"I heard that our transmition couldn't be passed through Covenant alloy," Lynn, Mack's AI explained.

"So it's true," Ada replied.

"What is it, Ada?" Master Chief asked her back.

"The Covenants started an uprising, which called out all our Pelicans. When we got to Earth, the only Pelican left would pick us up to get us to the shield. But the Pelican was controlled by Marines, who then passed the controls to us, so all the Pelicans had a drop off far away, and the others, there were no pilots." Ada took a deep breath. She was tired from talking so much, but she had to get it out. She was as smart as the stupidest AI, and knew a lot about a lot. "So inside the Covenant alloy, we can't hear any UNSC transmitions, so December's Hail's cries of help were useless."

Once we finished our mission, we got out of the Phantom, and the distress call came in, but it was too late. And about these rebels, could they have formed an alliance with the Covenants, or did they take advantage of them?"

"Either way, Ada," Master Chief spoke softly. "We're getting Dr. Kelly back."

CHAPTER 4 ========================== 

**1650 hours September 08, 2581 (Military Calendar)/**

**Epsilon Demitri System Covenant Phantom**

**Orbit around Rebellia Massive Rebel Planet**

Ada concentrated down at the planet known as Rebellia. This planet was known for it's massive rebels that resided inside it. But unlike other rebel planets, there was no need to hide inside the asteroid. The planet took place outside, and from space, the greens lands and blue oceans could be seen.

"All right Spartans," Master Chief broke through Ada's concentration. "I have chosen who to take. I need fast moving people, and people with hawk eyes. So I choose you Eddie, and you Mack. Gear up."

"Yes, sir!" They said as they gave him a salute. In the corner of their mouths, a smile started to form.

Mack grabbed a sniper rifle he called 'True Shot'. In his 6 years he had his rifle he had never missed.

Eddie traveled light, so he could move even faster. He grabbed his 12-mm handgun with scope. And his always trusted M12D.

Ada was filled with sadness, as she wanted to go down and help, but she hid that feeling at the back of her head. "Why Master Chief? Why fast people and people with hawk eyes?"

"Simple Ada… The spot the rebels called us out to is surrounded by 4 buildings. That means over 150 windows and 4 rooftops to sniper us from. I need people who are too fast to get caught by snipers, and people who can snipe you 3 times faster than you can snipe him."

"How do you know where they called you out to?"

Master Chief sent a display to Ada's screen. It showed the map of Rebellia. The gigantic city of Kairo Rebel, the capital of Rebellia.

"They sent us a map yesterday. They don't want any problems, they just want to be left alone by us, who have always attacked them when we had the chance." Master Chief shook his head, ready to express what he really thought, but he held back his real feelings, and gave his second opinion. "But I think they're using this as a chance to kill us, and Dr. Kelly, then there will be no more Spartans to kill their people."

Ada nodded in agreement. She knew he was right, but she had rather not say it. "If you need a quick pick up, me and the rest of the Spartans are ready."

"Well said, CPO Lockheart. I'll take you up on that."

"Aye, sir," She added with a smile.

"Take us down, Ada."

"Aye, sir."

The Phantom took a nosedive into Rebellia's atmosphere. As they passed the burning atmosphere, Master Chief noticed it was hotter when they passed through, than it was on the Pelican. Maybe that was the Covenant's weaknesses…

Master Chief pushed the thought back until later, when he saw Kairo Rebel. He could see the large white walls surrounding Kairo. As they neared to about 5000 meters, the Chief saw that at each of the 4 points, North, East, South, & West, there were large gates, with 2 manned Stationary Gunners. This had to be a mistake. The Stationary Gunners were produced in a Covenant sweatshop. Why would the Rebels have one?

Was this gunner stolen, or have the Covenants made an alliance to destroy the humans?

"Drop us in the city limits of Kairo Rebel, Ada," Master Chief said through CC-PHANTOM, which he had created just as they were landing, and put the Spartans in it.

In the CC's, there were also ranks. If you were higher than the next man, you could be put into it, but if they were of lower rank, you would get a message asking if you accept to be put into it. It was really handy for quick, private chat lines.

"Aye, sir." She replied in the same CC as she stared at the little red box on the top right corner of her HUD. It read "PHANTOM-CC", telling her she was in that CC.

The ship started to slow its speed. The Phantom dropped on the sandy ground, and clots of sand were sent flying all around. The back blast door opened, and Master Chief, Eddie, and Mack jumped out, with their weapon of choice.

"Be careful, Chief, remember, we're here for back up," Ada called over the CC to Master Chief. The Phantom took off, and the giant gate of Kairo was less than 50 meters away from the Spartans.

The men handling the gunners turned to the Spartans. Master Chief wondered if they would fire, or if they knew they were called here. Master Chief had a bad habit; he would ask himself questions that are stupid, and that he already knew the answer to. Kind of like the great Captain Keyes' habit of chewing the end of the pipe he had from his father. Except this habit was embarrassing. That's why no one knew about it.

Master Chief started walking toward the massive gates. The gunners followed him every step of the way. Even though the Chief held his M12D in the air, to show he wasn't going to fire, the gunners looked like they were going to shot him anyways. Did they have that much hatred for them?

The guards behind the metal bars of the gate opened the door. The Spartans stepped through, and were greeted by nearly 2-dozen guards armed with pistols. The guards seized their weapons, leaving them bear.

"Why did you only bring pistols? Are you that careless?" Asked the head guard.

"No," Master Chief replied to him as he handed them his grenades. "I'm just confident."

The guards snarled at him, but the Chief kept his calm. "This way. A convoy will take you to our leader." The head guard mentioned as he pointed to a long bus, that had about 10 guards in it. The Chief wondered why there were so many, it seemed if they were walking into an ambush, and everything about the bus felt wrong. But the Spartans entered with no fear.

The bus, once loaded, started on its trip. The bus lifted off the ground, as it had no tires, and used Opgravity to float.

Opgravity was made for gravity. In physics, it mentions that every force has an equal and opposite force. Since there was none for gravity, Opgravity was made. It used anti-gravity technology to hover above the ground.

The bus ran through the city, showing the Spartans how the true city worked.

The Chief saw someone stealing jewels from a jewel stand. 3 guards came by and roughed him up a little, then they pistol whipped him, and knocked him unconscious. That's when they put the cuffs on him and dragged him away.

The Chief wondered why they were so brutal to each other… they _were_ all rebels.

The bus halted abruptly, sending the Spartans forward, but they quickly pulled back.

"Get out!" The driver opened the door on the side of the bus. It was an average, yellow bus. The type of bus that was used nearly 600 years ago. But now it was fitted with future technology.

The Spartans stepped out, and they quickly noticed that they had an even worst point of view. The map details were off, and instead of 4 buildings, there were 10, over 500 windows and 10 rooftops. This spot was beautiful. There was grass with many flowers in it. The trees were tall, that it covered most of the roofs from where the Spartans were. This seemed like a 20th Century place. Seemed like the Rebels were living in the past.

There was a 1 way street, which bent around at the last building, and continued to lead out to the rest of the city. There were 6 buildings that were adjacent to the street, and about 2 buildings behind the set of 3s. So there were 5 buildings on each side of the road.

There was a slight blow of wind, and Master Chief held his hand near his concealed assault rifle. He swiped at the air, as much pollen and ragweed filled the air. There was enough to kill an allergenic person.

A door opened at the last building on the left side of the street. A man dressed in black, surrounded by 20 guards poured out of the small door. They carried M10D Pistol, which was standard issue to the Spartans 13 years ago.

The group stopped in front of the Spartans. "Thanks for arriving on time." The leader called out, as he stepped from behind the men in black. "Punctual as I expected."

Master Chief didn't like this, so much protection for unarmed Spartans. Was it that the Rebels feared the Spartans? Enough to go over the top with protection?

"Where's our Doctor?" Master Chief asked in a loud voice. "We want him back, is he ok?"

The leader nodded. "I am—"

"We don't care for introductions," Mack jumped in front of the leader's words. "After today, we'll never see you again."

The leader nodded as he beared a slight grin. "That's what I'm hoping for. To never see you, or another Marine again."

"This is what you want?" Master Chief asked.

"This is what all rebels want! To never be harassed by you sons of bitches! To never have to hide, or run, or fight! If all the humans died except us, I'd be ok with that! That's why we sided with the Covenants!"

The Spartans got a look of surprise on their faces. So it was true that the Covenants were allied with the Rebels. It didn't make sense… the Covenants never took any prisoners or had any allies. Why did they suddenly take up the Rebels?

Ada, who was listening to their conversation from the Phantom, relayed all she was hearing back to ONI and December's Hail. They recorded this into their info file, this was the first time ever the Covenants had allies. Ada figured the ONI spooks would be bombarding her with directions and things to do for them, which were why she was glad human transmition couldn't enter the ship, but could exit it.

That is also why they couldn't make peace with the Covenants. Once the Covenants were in range, they took no prisoners. There was no time to negotiate on the battlefield. And when trying to contact the Covenant ships, no trans could surpass the Covenant alloy. Unless the Spartans found the home planet to the Covenants, they can't negotiate. Or unless the Spartan's found a Covenant CC. The CC transmition could reach all the way to the other side of the galaxy. But this was hard, as no one knew if Covenants even used CCs.

Which is why most are pissed off. The home world was found. And peace could've been negotiated, but it wasn't, instead it was blown to smithereens. And since then, the Covenants have rioted tediously. And now the humans want to negotiate peace.

In a way, the humans were like the rebels. Fight when it's convenient. But when things get hot, they want peace and love. Everyone thought this was the wrong way to handle this, but no one wanted to say anything, since they could be charged with conspiracy and insubordination. And those are serious charges.

The Chief seemed as if he was going to strike the man from Mack's eyes, but he knew that the Chief would not sabotage this mission for a few thrown words.

"Give us Dr. Kelly." Master Chief demanded as he put out his hand to shake the leader's hand. "And you'll get your peace."

The leader respectably shook the Spartan's hand. "Release the doctor." The leader called over his walkie-talkie.

"Send in the Banshee, Ada," Master Chief rang to the Phantom in space. "Pick up for Dr. Kelly."

"Roger that." Ada answered back, as she nose-dived into Rebellia's atmosphere.

From a distance, Master Chief could see Dr. Kelly run out of a building. "Hey, Spartans! I'm safe, it's ok!"

The Spartans let out a silent breath of air, his hot air smogging up his visor. But the Doctor had a grim look on him. "I'm sorry to say-" He started to say as he pulled up to the group. "The December's Hail crew was killed when I was kidnapped."

The Chief, under his visor, gritted his teeth. "Don't worry about it, Doctor. You're safe now, and that's all that matters."

As the Chief finished, the Phantom's roar grew loud. It was in sight now, and would hit the ground in a few seconds. But while it came, the leader back away, into the building he came into. As he reached the door, he stopped to look back at the departing Spartans.

The back hatch opened, and Dr. Kelly hopped in. But the Spartans made no movements.

"Now!" master Chief screamed over his external speakers. "That was for Dr. Kelly! Now this is a matter of the December's Crew!"

With that, the Master Chief opened fire onto the leader's group. 15 of the 20 guards dropped from shots to the upper body. The rest of the guards ducked inside with the leader between them. The snipers inside the buildings fired onto them. The Spartans quickly moved to dodge the bullets.

"Mack! Find and destroy!"

"Aye, Chief!"

Mack searched the windows with his 10x zoom, trying to find the snipers. But had no luck.

"Chief, we got 6 Rogue enemies headed for you, arrival in—" Ada started, but got cut off by a voice she knows all too well.

"1 minutes 2 seconds." Divine cut in front of Ada, his own master.

From a distance, Master Chief saw 6 busses, most likely full of Rebels headed for their location.

"Thanks guys." Master Chief said, as he slowed down his pace and dodged closer to the rest of the Spartans. "Alright guys, the point of this is to teach them a lesson. They kill our people; we kill theirs. Fire at will."

"Aye, Chief." Collective voices called at him.

The Spartans inside the Phantom got out to help out. Dr. Kelly on his own piloted the Phantom. He was ready to pick up the Spartan's at any time.

A sudden fire of a special rifle some knew as True Shot shocked the Spartans. Everyone knew that 1 shot fired meant 1 enemy dead. On some occasions, maybe even 2 or 3. The Spartans all turned to see Mack had made his mark. A Rebel fell out of the window he was stationed on. He fell 4 floors and hit the bottom with a _crunch!_

The bus was now closer, not enough, but it let out its troops. This way, the bus wouldn't be in danger of getting fired on, and it would risk explosion. It was weak to fire, and was extremely flammable. 1 bullet may even sometime cost the explosion. The Rebels started on their foot quest. They started firing on the Spartans, but the Spartans were all too ready, and the bullets went to waste. As the blast of 1 of the Rebel weapons hit the grass in front of the moving Spartans, they could see something they saw every week. Plasma.

The Covenants even gave the Rebels their weapons. But that wasn't all, a shrieking noise filled the air, and it wasn't long before the Spartans saw a trio of Banshees fill the sky.

The Spartans took no time to talk, but just opened fire onto the Banshees. Mack shot one of the external wings, and the hit Banshee, which struggled to stay afloat. It fought with itself, but finally lost, when the left wing hit the ground, brushing it off. The Banshee shredded the ground for a few meters, until it finally burst into flames.

The second Banshee however, was only struck 1, when the bullet of Ada passed through the bottom, and through the newly made hole came blood. The Banshee touched down softly in a decent flower patch, throwing flowers into the air.

Eddie ran over to the untouched Banshee and pulled open the back. A Rebel lay dead there, as 3 bullets went through his head. Eddie pulled him out and took his spot. The Banshee roared life, and dusted off. It soared through the air, as Eddie tried it out for the first time. When he finally got use to the controls, he started to give chase to the last Banshee.

Back on the ground, the Spartans opened fire on the oncoming Rebels. The front line fell to the ground, but there were still many lines behind them. As Mack fired onto another Sniper, Rebels rushed out of the buildings surrounding them. This was easily unmatched. Only 5 Spartans to over 200 Rebels with Banshees. But each Spartan could take about 50 Rebels alone without any wounds, so it was evenly matched anyways.

A Rebel rushed Dilon, but with Dilon's enhanced strength, he easily grabbed the tiny Rebel by both hands and started to pull. He stretched the Rebel fiercely. Despite the cries of pain from the Rebel, Dilon kept stretching him. There was a crack, and blood smeared over the Rebel's shirt. There obviously was a tear in the skin under the arm. The Rebel hit the ground as Dilon let him go. The Rebel looked up at Dilon with watery eyes. And got 6 to the face from Dilon's assault rifle.

Unlike Master Chief, Eddie, and Mack, the rest of the Spartans were heavily armed with Assault rifles, grenades and a handgun; the M12D. All the weapons Master Chief, Eddie, and Mack had were Master Chief's assault rifle, Eddie's M12D, and Mack's True Shot.

The Master Chief ducked out of the way of a Plasma blast from close range. He rolled, jumped back as another threaten to burn through him. When he landed on his back, he shot a quick succession of 3's, as he hit the 2 Rebels that were shooting at him. They both dropped easily, as no armor made them easy targets to kill.

He had to be quick, as a Plasma grenade was dropped from a nearby Rebel, in his futile attempt to kill all the Spartans in 1 move. There was no chance of dodging the grenade, so the Master Chief caught the Plasma grenade, and tried to throw it. But it was stuck to his shield.

Ada's quick thinking got him through it though. She fired controlled-burst onto the Chief's armor, until it flashed red, and disappeared.

And with the armor deteriorated, the Plasma had nothing to grab hold of, so it dropped to the ground slowly, and its adhesive glued to the grass.

The Chief pulled back behind Mack, so his shield could recharge. Without a shield, the Rebel's Plasma would easily burn through him. And dispel inside him, leaving the burning where it last left off.

The Chief's internal speakers sounded the alarm, and his HUD flashed red as the shield refilled slowly. When it got to half way, the alarm quit, and the red flashing turned into normal colors again.

The Plasma exploded into bluish green smoke, and sent grass flying meters into every direction. This shrouded the Rebel's sight of vision. But with the Spartan's enhanced vision, they could nearly see clearly over the Plasma fog.

They took this time to fire a rain of bullets onto unsuspecting Rebels. Everything seemed to be going fine on the ground.

Up above the Earth, 50 meters in the air, Eddie was getting the hang of the Banshee. He duck and dove, trying to polish his skills. But his fun was killed, as a Banshee flew into the scene and fired onto the Spartans on the ground. Eddie trailed this rogue Banshee as it tried to hit and run.

The Banshee ducked between 2 buildings, as Eddie followed it. When he reached it, he found it was waiting for him. He took a pulse Plasma on his left wing as he tried to swerve right. Smoke sputtered from the newly opened gash. Eddie found it hard to stay afloat. And as well, seconds later, he was declining at a 20 degree angle, headed straight for a building.

Eddie pushed down on the control stick, and dived to miss the building. But he was soon on a collision course with the ground. He opened the back door by pushing a button on the control panel, and waited for the Banshee to reach the ground. When it was meters away from the ground, he jumped out, and struggled to fix himself, to land straight on his feet.

He landed with a _thud_, hard on the ground. He quickly buckled his feet to ease the pain, and fell backwards onto the bristle grass. He stared at the sky for second, admiring it, until the Banshee that took him down came back around. He could not move, or reach for his weapon, as it was several meters from his position. He wrapped his arms around his visor, to cover any Plasma that hit him in the face, though it had no use, as if Plasma were to hit him, it would burn through his arms and hit his face.

He heard a screech, several bullets ricochet, and an explosion.

Eddie opened his eyes to see Master Chief, Ada, and Dilon standing over him. Eddie sighed and smirked under his visor. "Thanks for saving my neck, guys."

He got a collective, "No problem." from the group. Who after they said their peace, went back into the hot zone for more battle. Eddie, saw the Banshee, crumpled near a small playground. The Banshee had managed to mangle the jungle gym, and turned it into a burning metal prison for the Banshee.

Eddie followed the team into the mist of the battle. Seemed these Spartans had much more experience than the Spartans of the past. And it showed in great amounts.

**_TO BE CONTINUED…_**


	2. Poltergeist

**CHAPTER 5==========================**

**0100 hours September 05, 2581 (Military Calendar)/**

**Epsilon Eridani System UNSC Mother Ship _Jurassic Gateway_**

**Location Classified**

Lieutenant [Tech Officer] Samuel Davis filled his coffee mug to the brim. As he quickly moved to his seat on the bridge, a drop climbed over the edge and dripped its way over the drawing on the mug. It had a picture of the _Jurassic Gateway_ on it, shooting off her heavy missiles at nothing. He had made it himself to honor the extremely old Mother Ship. It had been made over 100 years ago, and went by the name _Perpetual Light_. But after a few battle, and a few dozen years, it got its name _Jurassic Gateway_.

There weren't many Mother Ships made, but out of the few that were made, _Jurassic Gateway_ was the most protected. Her bridge crew consisted of over 20 men and woman, who have heavy experience dealing with Covenant battleships.

Mother Ships were the center of all knowledge about Earth. If someone planned a birthday, the people on this Mother Ship knew the flavor of the cake, and how much it costed.

Several noises came from this bridge. From sipping of coffee, to constant talking.

"Look." Said Sergeant [Nav Officer] Jamie Price pointing to her screen. There moved a group of purple ships across the screen, from the left side to the right. On the right side of the screen was the _Jurassic Gateway_. There were 3 planets along the way, all of which were uninhabited. "They're headed in this direction."

"How long until they get here, Nav Officer?" Captain Ken Dullard asked Sergeant Price.

"42 days." The ships AI, Jenova, answered as Sergeant Price opened her mouth to answer.

"How many crafts would you say there are, Jenova?"

Sergeant Price blushed in embarrassment. What turned out to be her find was turned over to a smarter being.

"Calculating… … … 214 Battleships, 54 Frigates, 39 drop ships, & 22 Repair Crafts. 329 Covenant forces in all. Taken up against our 65 Battleships, 25 Frigates, 50 drop ships, & 21 Repair Crafts; 160 Human forces, it hardly seems fair."

"But we still have 8 extra Repair Ships." Sergeant Price commented, trying to get into the conversation.

"No, Sergeant, that's irrelevant. Those Repair Ships take up to 2 hours to fix a simple drop ship. They will take too long to fix a battleship. It's useless to trust in them in the heat of battle," Captain Dullard answered back to her quickly. "Think straight, child."

The Sergeant blushed even harder now. She turned to her station and nodded. "Yes, sir."

Jenova, on her AI pedestal smirked. She knew what Sergeant Price was trying to do. But it blew back in her face. No one could outsmart an AI; no matter how hard they tried.

"So what's the plan?" Sergeant First Class [Weapon Officer] Carl Daemon White asked with a slick smile. He seemed not to be worried about the Covenant; he just wanted to be kept in the know. He was a curious person, but no one could blame him for it. Everyone is at times.

The Captain breathed deep. "We'll call in the biggest SOS ever. Call all those in this and the next system. Call 'em here to come and battle them half way from theirs and ours location. That will at least weaken them. And then we'll have another attack half way again, and have another battle. By the time they get to us, they will be half in numbers and with no morale at all. We'll surely crush them."

The _Jurrasic's _crew flashed a smile. It was a simple plan, but effective nonetheless. If not, they had a third option. The second option being surrender, the third would be to unleash the Earth's strongest weapon.

Haven remained hidden for a little under 5 centuries, a quick upgrade here and there, the secret weapon was presumed weak at its present state. But its power was unmatched, and could wipe out Saturn with ease. Having quick firing, 16 minutes per fire, it could destroy all 9 planets in 2 hours and 24 minutes.

"Lets just hope we don't have to resort to using the secret weapon… it damages the planet by sucking out its resources. If used to much, the planet will waste away, and shatter, like a glass ball dropped 100 meters high." Jenova said, showing the Earth shattering on her monitor.

The bridge crew gasped. They never knew of this secret weapon, except being mentioned once or twice. Other than that, all they heard where Marine rumors. And Rumors always have twists to them.

The crew looked at each other, but felt discomforted, and quickly looked back at their monitors. They were _the crew_ of _Jurassic Gateway_. The center of Earth. All information went to them, and the only thing they didn't know of was this hidden weapon…

Why was it such a big secret… was it because in time, it could kill the Earth?

================================================================

"Alright, Spartans, our job here is done." Master Chief called to his Spartans in PHANTOM-CC, as he scoped the field, to see hundreds after hundreds of _human_ bodies lain across this once peaceful project.

Killing humans didn't feel as good as it did killing Covenant. The Master Chief felt abhorrence for himself at that time. Though he was fighting for the humans, he just killed a thousand humans here today, with no real explanation except… revenge…

"Coming to pick you up. Stand by." Dr. Kelly called, also in PHANTOM-CC. He dived into atmosphere. He also felt the heat of the atmosphere passing through the thick alloy. A sweat bead dropped from his forehead onto the control panel he was utilizing. "Man, it's hot like an oven. Better hurry and get out of here. Before things really get heated up."

He feed more fuel to the quad burners, and the ship shot forward in a quick movement.

Ada threw a frag Grenade at a pair of Rebels. They attempted to catch the frag. But hadn't enough time to throw it. The Rebel, who caught it, was instantly blown away. He laid in the grass, half his right face blown off, and his right arm was missing. He moaned a little, then fell silent. The other Rebel however, was still alive as he laid in a flower patch. His whole left side was burned profusely. He tried to remain still, as to look dead. But Dilon knew he wouldn't be. They were to far apart to both be killed from 1 frag.

Dilon walked up to the hurt Rebel. The Rebel tried to protest, but it was no use. Dilon picked up his heavy boot and brought it to the Rebel's face with force.

Master Chief seemed to not be doing any work. His weapons hadn't fired since he told the Spartans to clear out. Maybe he felt guilty for the deaths at_ December's Hail_. And he felt guilty for all these deaths here too. He felt it was his fault so many humans died. It was his mission to save them. Not let them die. He felt empty. Like he was worthless… like he didn't deserve such an honor of being the Earth's savior.__

Seconds later, the Phantom carrying Dr. Kelly arrived, and the Spartans were picked up with no hassle.

"Get out! You promised peace you bastards!" The Rebel Leader screamed at Master Chief as he was entering the ship.

"You kill ours, we kill yours," Was the Chiefs simple reply. "But we're also sorry. But don't take our kindness for weakness. Or you'll see us real soon."

"Hope to have many years of peace with you." Mack added with a modest laugh as the blast door slammed shut. That was the last they heard of the Rebels for now.

================================================================

At this point in time, this specific Phantom was the most worth thing in the universe. Or many would have thought so. But all over space, there were about 60 Spartans fighting with the Covenant.

Dr. Kelly, being directly related to Dr. Halsey, the founder of the SPARTAN program, being her cousin, had taken over her experiments. He took the shots the Spartans had to go through upon becoming teens, and made it better. The death result was no longer 59%, but was lowered to an amazing 22%.

This left around 70 Spartans in all. They were each separated to different parts of space, to help fight the Covenant in that area. UNSC put 5 Spartans into each sector surrounding Earth. If need be, Spartans from all the sectors would be called to Earth.

This made everyone exultant; if 5 Spartans could hold back a large Covenant attack, imagine 70 Spartans fighting on Covenant planet. This battle would end in under a day, with the Spartans victory, and a little under a dozen Spartan casualties.

"This Phantom will be left to _December's Hail_, so they can diagnose it, to see if it really is weak to heat..." Master Chief explained to Dr. Kelly what he thought, and what had happened today. From his theories to the battle of Kairo Rebel.

This was all that went on for the next 5 days, until the crew finally arrived at the_ December's Hail_.

The Master Chief entered the bridge. Where he got welcomes from the crew.

"Welcome home, Nickolas-238, I presume your mission was a success?" Captain Marcus Locke asked the Chief as he stepped to the command chair.

"Yes, sir. We got Dr. Kelly back. And I see you replaced the crew as well. Don't worry, I got the scoundrels back for the crew."

The Captain nodded. "Yes." He turned to the large transparent screen ahead of him. Beside the screen, on the AI pedestal appeared a hologram image. Leela, the tomboy female AI, greeted the Chief warmly. Leela had been around since Cortana's death, in the late 2550's. Leela would be called Cortana's sister AI. But with additions, she was made to last a 2 decades more than Cortana. Same as Cortana, Leela was to smart for her own good, and also like Cortana, this will sooner or later be the death of this AI.

"Glad to see you and Dr. Kelly back safe."

"Yes, you are free to rest if you like." The Captain Locke added, as an image appeared on his screen.

"Locke and I are studying the transmition you guys sent, along with the battle images. Thought this provides little of everything… I got nothing else to do." Leela sighed.

Master Chief let out a prompt laugh. "Well, if it's any use, I also felt the Phantom stored in the dock bay was weak to heat. Maybe that's a weakness of the Covenant."

"Achilles' heel, huh? Hmm, I'll have someone look into it."

"Thanks." The Chief said, waved, turned around and left the bridge.

================================================================

_"This is Juliet 621, does anyone read me? I repeat, does anyone read me? Over."_

_"This is December's Hail, we read you Juliet 621. What's the problem?"_

_"I need back up, Spartan 2 have found a giant Covenant base. They have proceeded to attack, but have fallen to deep into the city. There are too many Shades, and Banshees to be able to pull them out. So we decided to take the city--"_

_"This is Delta 219, December's Hail, do you read me? Over."_

_"December's Hail here, what is it 219?"_

_"We need back up at Epsilon Echelon system. I repeat, we need back up at Epsilon Echelon system."_

_"Roger that, 219. Requested units are dispatched."_

_"Roger, Delta 219 out."_

_"Juliet 621, this is December's Hail, do you read me? Over."  
"Roger."_

_"What system are you located."_

_"… … Epsilon Echelon system. I repeat, Epsilon Echelon system."_

_"Roger that, I have dispatched units to your system. I will also send Spartan 3 to your location."_

_"Roger. Thanks December's Hail. Juliet 621 out."_

================================================================

"Master Chief? Master Chief?! Do you read me Master Chief?"

The Master Chief awoke with a sudden fright. He breathed heavy, and noticed his helmet was off. He looked over to where his helmet was, and saw it lying on the floor. The transmition, who ever was calling him, shook the helmet slightly. The Chief picked up his helmet. "Master Chief here, what is it?"

"Finally Master Chief, we are headed for Epsilon Echelon, to help Spartan 3 deal with a Covenant base."

Spartans at each system were also labeled by their numbers, since the new Spartans were 226-300, 226-230 was Spartan 1, 231-235 was Spartan 2. And the Master Chief's was Spartan 3, as Spartan 3 was 236-240 and he was 238. Out of these numbers, the group chose the leader. Ada was 236, Dilon was 237, Eddie was 239, and Mack was 240. Spartan 3, as a team chose Master Chief because of his great leadership skills. In missions, he was the bravest, and smartest, Covenant battling wise.

"What's the matter, _December's Hail_? They infiltrated a Covenant base and are in too deep to get out?"

"That's right, Master Chief. You were listening to the conversation between us?"

The Master Chief shook his head. He remembered briefly something about this. But not all of it… he must have been enough awake to hear what they were saying, but not enough to understand. Now it's when he understands. "I guess I was… I don't know."

"Well whatever, Master Chief, you will have to load into 1 Pelican out of 9 Pelican and fly there. These Pelicans will be equipped with 'Hog's and Spiders, and be filled with Marines. Use the vehicles to your liking. And we will also fire ODST toward the planet surface.

"By the way, this planet does not belong to the Covenant. It belongs to a now dead race of aliens. The Covenant have killed them off, and taken captive the planet, to harvest its many resources. Normally, we wouldn't interfere, but this is a great time to damage the Covenant numbers. They will drop greatly if we take over this city."

The Chief nodded. "Have the others gotten the message?"

"Yes, Chief. They're just waiting for you."

The Chief grew red with embarrassment. He hated the fact that, he always told them to be punctual, and now he's the one that's late. He felt like he was an idiot for sleeping. In the future, he would try to sleep when it was most convenient. When he was sure there was nothing to do. So he would never be embarrassed like this again.

He slammed his helmet on, digging them into his shoulders, leaving a red and white mark on his white skin. He pushed that aside as he grabbed a shotgun, and attached it to his side, grabbed a 10mm M12D, and his trusted 45mm MA8B. Which was his real weapon. Not the one he took to Earth, which was a 12mm. That was for close combat, as he knew in the White House, the corridors didn't offer much space. But they were going to an unknown planet. Who knew what resided in wait there. There was plenty of space.

The Chief exited the Spartan's rest hall quickly, and followed the signs attached to the overhead the pointed right, and to the left of it read in dark red letters, 'Launch Bay'.

As the sliding metal doors recognized the Chief's movement, it slid apart. Revealing the many air vehicles ready to be launched. The Chief noticed the black suited Marines, and quickly figured they were ODST—"Hell Jumpers".

Aligned the bulkhead, were several Hell Jumper pods. Ready to be launched as well. But the Chief had no time to dawdle. He had a Pelican to catch. He hurried down the thin catwalk, to a small metallic bridge that lead to the Pelican's open hatch. Attached to the ships belly, the Chief could see a Spider attacked to it, loaded with 8 missiles, and with its factory given Mini guns. Those things could cause havoc, unbelievably fast. But the thought that gave the Chief the most comfort was the bare fact that he would be riding like a speed demon with the 6000 miles per hour fast, blue sports car. Amazing that the beautiful vehicle could raise not only hell, but also the road it traveled on.

The Chief boarded the craft, and announced himself.

"Welcome aboard, Chief," The pilot called out to him. "I'm Romeo 566. I'll be your pilot for today."

Right away, the Chief recognized the pilot as Australian because of his accent. The Chief strapped himself in. He looked about and found the team sleeping, some drinking and eating. For the most part, leisurely things. The ones who were awake, though, welcomed him. His team consisted of Spartan 3 and around 10 more Marines.

"This is Romeo 566. Craft is taking off. The Captain has turned on the fasten seat belt sign. Please no smoking, and care to take this time and click the safety on you weapon. If we have to abandon ship, the Co-Pilot _can_ be used as a floating device."

The Chief smiled under his helmet. The Marines also laughed. "Pilot humor," A Marine called out loud. "The best there is."

Unlike the rest of the Spartans, the Chief kept his helmet on. He didn't like to be seen without it. He also asked himself why the Spartans had their helmets off. Another stupid question? The only simple answer was, there was no danger. They wanted to relax while they could. Under the helmet, it was tightly packed. Luckily, none of the Spartans were claustrophobic. The Pelican was released from its hold onto the _December's Hail_.

It dropped down and out through, since this part of the ship had no bottom, so the ships could drop out from there instead of fly in. But it had 4 walls surrounding it. The Dock Bay was different of course. It had the bottom, but only 3 walls, as the wall to the North was missing, and replaced by a door that would remain open 90% of the time. The only time it would close is if it was being attacked or entering the atmospheres.

The Romeo 566 stalled as it exited the battleship, and then did a 180, and headed down to the small dot, that was designated to be the biggest battle this century.

The city the Covenant had invaded was as Texas. This was the only city on the planet, but this was also an advantage. The Covenants had sent enough forces to fill half, but the other half could be filled with human forces. There they could set up a base and fight the Covenant back. Then they'll be almost half in total number. Which is a real advantage to the humans. This was the first time in a while when they could get a large Covenant fleet on land, where the Spartans could assure victory. Which is why Spartan 3 and Spartan 4 were called to this planet, both of which were surrounding the Echelon system.

The pilot added more fuel to his burners, and sped toward the planet.

**SECTION II=========================== **

**POLTERGEIST **

**CHAPTER 6 ==========================**

**1205 hours September 13, 2581 (Military Calendar)/**

**Epsilon Echelon System UNSC Vehicles**

**Plains Forerunners Planet**

The sun had just started to come up over the high mountains in the distance. This planets sun was pink; leaving a pink trail on everything it got its hand on.

The air was moist, as if it were dawn. Insects flew around, making extraordinary sounds. Hiding in the tall grass. The grass stood 2 meters high, and was stationed on red sand.

5 pelicans dropped their vehicles, and Marines, but the Marines were walking, while the Spartans, and a few lucky Marines used the vehicles. Point was for the vehicles to clear the way, and the Marines to arrive unharmed.

The air was filled with dust as well, as the Warthogs bounced around, trying to regain its grip on the Earth. It dug into a soft spot on the ground, and climbed out quickly, sending a fireball of red sand forward.

Ada shook as she tried to find the right road as to not feel so much resistance. But it was impossible. Here there was too much grass to see what was under the grass. She ignored that, as she press on the gas, and sent the 'Hog forward, sending the Marine at the PRL99 backwards, almost falling off the back.

The PRL99 was a Plasma-launching rocket. It shoots Plasma that exploded on contact. This was stolen technology from the Covenant database. The PRL99 replaced the old M41 LAAG, which shot bullets. It's very powerful, but dangerous with close quarters, which is why some 'Hogs are equipped with M41s.

Leading the troops of vehicles was the Master Chief in a Spider. The Chief barely pressed the gas, and the Spider was still faster than a 'Hog going full speed. In the passenger side was his trusted Marine. Private [Weapons Officer] Davey Micheals. The Chief knew the private for a while.

When the Chief was a kid in the Spartan program, he had lost the challenge, and had to walk to the barracks, and eat nothing for that day. Davey Micheals, who had been a Sergeant at the time, was young and naive. Being 20, he felt sorry for the 6 year old. He told the boy if he wanted a ride on his 'Hog. Nickolas agreed, and they were soon off. Micheals gave Nickolas a sub sandwich he had, but didn't want. Micheals dropped him off in front of the barracks. Where Sergeant Enrico Sancho found Nickolas was not tired and it only took him 15 minutes to walk a 2 hours long road.

Sergeant Sancho asked the young boy who had brought him, but Nickolas denied telling him. For the next few days, Sancho made Nickolas do extra PT, non-stop, and his eating was leveled to minimum, while the rest of the Spartans ate grand meals, to intimidate Nick into telling Sancho the truth. But Nick held his own for 6 days.

Until the 7th days, the scared Sergeant Micheals confessed. Sergeant Sancho took him in front of the UNSC Board, and told them what he did. Their punishment was to put the Sergeant into Ensign, and he couldn't rise in ranks for 1 year and for each day it took him to confess, they added a year to this. 8 years, and he was still and Ensign, until the 9th year, where he was risen up to a Private. And the 10th year, present time, was when he was made into a Weapons Officer of his battle ship, the _Dear Mary_.

Private Micheals thanked the Master Chief for not ratting him out, but he couldn't let a 6 year old take such a punishment for his mistake. And that's where their friendship began, when the Chief was 6, and now 12 years later, they were side by side, each others life in the others hands.

The Chief let up on the gas, as he saw a Wraith mortar tank on the hills up ahead.

"Listen up everyone, there is a Covenant tanks up ahead," The Chief said in FORERUNNER-CC. "Which means most likely Covenant units. 'Hog 1 and 2; take the tank out with your PRL99. 'Hog 3 and 4, pull up and take out any Covenant units with your M41."

"Roger, Green 1 & 2 taking out tank." Green 1, Mack's group, called back.

"Roger, Red 1 & 2 taking out any hostile units." Red 1, which was Ada's, called back as well.

Green 1 & 2 pulled up onto the Chiefs right, and Red 1 & 2 pulled up on his left.

There was a little rising up ahead, that's the reason they couldn't see if there were units around. As the 'Hogs jumped up the ramp hill, they immediately saw Covenant units.

"Covenant sighted! 50 meters from our location!" Red 2, Eddie's group, screamed over the CC.

"Fire at will! I repeat, fire at will!" Master Chief screamed back, pressing harder on the gas. He ramped up the hill, flying meters of the ground; he landed back with a thud, as the heavy vehicle hit the ground, pounding dust clots onto the windshield.

The Wraith tanks turned toward the group and fired a shot of pulsing Plasma. It clearly missed, but sent dust and Plasma smoke into the air, covering some of the Marines sight. They fired freely, into nothing, trying to score a lucky hit. The PRL99 fired its Plasma toward the Wraith. It hit the edge of the Wraith, sending it flipping head over heel, until it landed behind the hill. The Wraith was out of the picture for now.

As the dust settled, Plasma started to rain from ahead. The 'Hogs tried their bests to dodge it, but Dilon's got hit in the front right tire, sending it forward. The Marine manning the M41 was sent 10 meters before landing on his face. He lay silent, in pain. But as for the passenger and Dilon, they were strapped in, so they remained inside the turned over 'Hog.

Besides from a quick headache, the two were fine. They unstrapped themselves, and dropped to the ground. From inside their little base, they heard Plasma hitting the 'Hogs underside. Dilon picked up a Shotgun from the supplies dropped onto the floor, and then he exited the overturned Warthog. As soon as he did, he saw trio of Ghosts headed in his direction.

Private Micheals unleashed a missile toward the group of Ghosts. It flew toward the middle one, and hit it hard. It exploded, sending the 2 adjacent Ghosts sprawling onto the ground. The Elites how ever, were still alive. They stood up and opened fire with their Plasma Rifle. The Elite on the left didn't have much time to fire, and a Shotgun shell went through his shield, diminishing it, and another Shotgun shell blew his head off, showering his surroundings with blue-purple blood.

================================================================

The Covenant knew that they were going to be attacked sooner or later. But not this soon. But no matter, they had a plan to kill these invading sons-of-bitches. A new air vehicle that would prove to be more than useful.

"I can't wait to see the new weapon in action." Akua 'Relimee called out, to his partner, Nanam. Nanam was partnered to 'Relimee because of a mistake.

In battle against the Marines, Nanam and 'Relimee are side by side. Without care for Nanam, 'Relimee steps onto Nanam's foot, causing Nanam to fire his weapon onto the ceiling. The Marines take down 'Relimee's shield, and are about to kill him, when one of the blast from Nanam's Plasma pistol breaks the ceiling, and causes it to collapse. Creating a barrier between the Marines and Covenant. Ever since then, the two have been inseparable. God knows why an Elite would be with a Grunt.

As 'Relimee stares out of the window, towards the battle of Master Chief, he waits patiently for the new weapons to fly towards them.

Finally, after an eight-minute intermission, the weapons are released. 5 of them are sent flying from the top of the building 'Relimee is located on.

"Hahaha… beautiful creations. I call them… Poltergeist!"

================================================================

By now, the Marines have caught up to the battle. They start to unleash their fury onto the now quickly dropping Covenant.

A group of Grunts fire their Plasma pistols out of fear, but hit nothing. They are soon run over by Ada's 'Hog. Bluish blood is splattered on the ground, as the 2 ton 'Hog crushes the light Grunts. Ada turns her vehicle to face a couple of advancing Jackals. The Marine in the back opened fire, ripping through the shield of the Jackals, and blowing chunks off of his body. The 'Swiss' chess Jackal falls to the ground, spraying blood from the newly made holes.

As everything seems to be going all right, a sudden comet of Plasma appears and blows Dilon's 'Hog into pieces. Dilon jumped out of the way of the explosion, only to be nearly crushed by the 'Hog's bumper. He stands up, and smiles. "Close. Lucky me."

"Alright, the Wraith tank is back, take it down!" Master Chief screams as he sees the comet hit the 'Hog.

"Um, Chief… that wasn't the mortar tank." Ada explains, as she spots the problem. "Look. It's the Banshees."

The Master Chief sees the Banshees, but they look different. It has the same external wings, but it has dual burners in the back. It's painted baby blue, and has the picture of a ghost flying around on the front. It has a small window where the pilot can see through. It also has a large cannon on the bottom.

It fires again, and a Plasma comet, the same as a Wraith tanks, can be seen shot out from the cannon on the belly of the aircraft. It lands between a group of Marines, blowing them into pieces. Blood paints the ground around them dark red. As Frag grenades blow as well, it leaves a large crater in the center. As it passes by, the Chief noticed the side of the craft, on the black ghost, in white it says, 'Poltergeist'.

"Take down those Poltergeists!"

"Poltergeist, Master Chief?" Ada asks, getting into position, so her Marine could fire his PRL99 at the target.

"That's what the Covenant call them, Poltergeist. Damn, bad time to make a new invention. It has the power of a Wraith tank, but it's agile as a Banshee… deadly duo…"

'Hog 1 & 2 fired their PRL99 at the Poltergeist, taking down 2, but leaving 3 more.

Dilon ran across the field, trying to get away from the dangerous Poltergeist. Covenant plasma threatened to kill him, but he was too quick to be hit from the side. A Covenant Elite tried to tackle him, but Dilon hit him harder, and dropped him to the ground. Dilon laughed and looked back at the downed Elite. The Elite grunted and tried to stand up, but his shields were diminished, and his health was half gone. Dilon turned around in time to see the Grunt body on the floor, but not in time to move.

He tripped and fell flat on his front. He turned around, and saw a Poltergeist dive onto his position. The cannon on the belly glowed Plasma green, and unleashed a comet.

"Master Chief—" Dilon called out softly, but his transmition was cut into static.

The comet impacted Dilon, exploding him into tiny pieces.

The Master Chief watched his Spartan disappear into a smoke of Plasma fire. When the dust settled, there was nothing to be found of Dilon.

The Chief gulped, "Damn it!! Take those God damned Poltergeists down! I don't want any more casualties!"

Ada closed her eyes. Just this morning, Dilon was excited to get out and fight for his people. He wanted to come and fight. But all he came and did was… die.

Master Chief was suddenly filled with sadness. He immediately noticed it was John who was sad, and since John was in Master Chief's brain, the Chief felt sadness too.

"How many more good people will have to be sacrificed before we end this war?" John asked a rhetorical question.

"As many as needed…" The Chief answered. "No more games, John. We _will_ take over this city! We _will not_ lose any more people! We _will_ win this war."

================================================================

The battle, later to be known as the "Battle on the Forerunner's Plains", had gone on for hours. At 1700 hundred hours, the pink sun was setting in a beautiful environment, behind moss green hills. It left the sky with a pink and purple hue.

Peace and tenderness was once spread across these plains between the biotic organisms in the community. But now war and hatred ripped these organisms apart from their ecosystem, abiotic and biotic alike.

These were the thoughts that raced through an intelligent Marine's head at the moment, until a DE-HP grenade shook his thoughts. He threw himself backwards, to miss the grenade 4 meters in front of him. As dust and burnt grass landed on his face, he brushed it off and scanned for the Marine who threw the rogue Frag, and he found the man behind him.

The Marine who threw it waved his apologize respectively, but didn't have time to say it verbally, as a Plasma round burned through his insides, and came out the other side. The Plasma passed on and waved by the intelligent Marine, leaving a wave of heat in its wake.

The Marine fell backwards onto his back again, and stood up quickly, to fire onto the Grunt that killed his ally.

He fired a controlled shot of 5, and the bullets pierced the Grunt's mask, blowing him up. The Methane he was breathing was flammable to some extent. It burned the Grunt, as yellow fire engulfed his little body. After the fire vanished, all that was left of the poor Grunt was its 'shoes', which were out of the way of the fire.

The Chief drove around crushing the bodies of Covenant with his fast moving vehicle. Quick speed and awesome handling were some of the Spider's attributes.

Private Micheals unleashed 2 missiles as he quick-targeted 2 Elites, and fired at them. The missiles flew straight and true, leaving gray smoke tracing their chosen paths and met their marks seconds later. The first of the 2 Elites was blown out of his shoes. His body exploded from the inside out, and sent blood and gore onto the by standing Elite.

Luckily, the Elite was also targeted by a missile, but was shot out of the way. The missile kept going, and tried to make a sharp turn, but unlike its launcher, it didn't have good handling. The missile strafed, and blew a 'Hog from the driver's side.

The 'Hog was sent spiraling in the air. The explosion of the vehicle killed both, driver and passenger, but the gunner was thrown off, landed on his back, and rolled to a stand. He quickly fell as a loss of power in the knees. He looked down at his feet, and tried to make them work, but only to fail. He looked up to see a Ghost, headed in his direction. He murmured a word of prayer, as the Ghost unleashed its Plasma, and burned 4 holes into the Marine's chest.

_"This is Tango 222, delivering a Scorpion to a… Master Chief."_

A wise ass Marine answered back, "I wanted one of those for Christmas, but my parents were too cheap!"

A Pelican could be seen from up high in the darkening sky. It was true. In its clutches was a Scorpion tank. A useful weapon in a crowded space.

The Pelican hovered meters off the ground, and dropped the 9-ton Scorpion. The Scorpion bounced and halted movement.

The Chief pulled up to the newly delivered weapon. He turned to Private Micheals.

"I'm leaving this Spider to you. Take a good shooting Marine and ride to give the Covenant hell!"

"You got it! I always wanted to drive one of these!" Private Micheals jumped into the drivers seat with a new sprout of confidence.

A Marine quickly pulled up to the job. Micheals pulled away in his brand new sports car.

The Chief jumped into the Scorpion, and was immediately followed by 4 Marines. "Ride 'em, boy!" 1 Marine called out as he jumped into the front right tread.

Each tread was 2-tons, while the body was 1-ton, giving the Scorpion the heaviest weapon in the human's arsenal, crushing anything that fell under it's power treads.

The Chief punched the gas, and sprung forward slowly. He quickly fired the cannon and destroyed a Ghost that was going around.

A quadruple set of Elites fired their Plasma weapons at the Marines stationed at the treads. The Marines fired back, taking out 2 of the 4 Elites. The Master Chief used his mini guns and took out 1 of the standing Elites. The other took down 1 Marine before he was crushed under the heavy weight of the Scorpion. The Scorpion had no trouble crushing his bones into dust, and kept going like nothing had happened.

The battle was winding down, but the Poltergeists that had gave trouble and ran out at the start of the battle, were coming back now with an annoying screech.

Hastily, they opened fire with their cannons, killing both of the Marines on the right of the Scorpion.

Then there was 1. The only Marine left got hit with the sudden case of fright, and jumped off the Scorpion. He madly dashed to the left, but was quickly chased down by 1 of the 2 Poltergeists. It dove near the ground, hovering meters of the ground; it fired off its mini guns, filling the young Marine with holes. The Marine held his body as it ached painfully. He looked down and saw half his stomach was missing; there was now a huge gap there. He dropped blood from his mouth, and fell to his knees. And then dropped face first onto the grass.

The Chief rearranged his turret to face the sky. It was a long shot, but it was either this, or run. And the Chief never ran, unless he was ordered to.

He fired a first shot onto the Poltergeist. It was a clean miss. The Poltergeist returned fire from its Plasma cannon. The explosion damaged the Chief minimal, as it only removed 1/8 of his shield. The Chief tried for a second time to fire his turret cannon.

An explosion lead by a crash put a smile on the Chief's face, the Poltergeist was downed.

"Now for the last one!" The Chief yelled to himself, as he put the Scorpion on reverse, and drove backwards till the Poltergeist was in range.

The Chief arranged the turret and waited for a moment. He made sure the shot was aligned. Then fired. Another shot hit, got all the Marines cheering in FORERUNNER-CC.

The rest of the battle was easy, as a surplus of Marines were dropped off at their location.

**CHAPTER 7 ==========================**

**0725 hours September 15, 2581 (Military Calendar)/**

**Epsilon Echelon System Alpha Base A**

**Hill Forerunners Planet**

Smoke rose from the Captain Carlos Hanson's cigar and danced wildly in the morning breeze. The Captain laid his hand, along with the cigar at his side. He was watching the sunrise happening behind the green hills.

He smiled. The thought of a hard ass watching something 'beautiful' like the sunrise seemed like an oxymoron.

He puffed a bit more, and dropped it at his side again. He let the smoke exit his nose slowly. He was never a smoker, but in the battlefield, it calmed his nerves.

A strong scent hit him from behind and he whirled around to see a woman holding a boom style headset.

"It's Alpha Base B, sir. Captain Harold" The woman said thoughtfully, as she handed him the headset.

He put it on and listened to what the person on the other end had to say.

"Captain Carlos Hanson speaking. Yes. Yes, Captain, better results. 0900 hundred will be perfect. Aye. Roger that."

The Captain took the headset off and handed them to the female. The female, also know as Medic Elmyra Haley, was about to take the headset back to the Command Tent, but she turned around and stationed herself next to the Captain.

"What's on your mind, Captain?"

The Captain turned to her and took another puff of his cigar. He starred at her with a disbelieved look. "What, you one of the guys now? Go on, get the hell out of here." The Captain turned back to the view and blew out smoke from his mouth in the shape of an O.

"Sorry, sir." She turned around and was walking down the cliff, when the Captain called her.

"Come here, Elmyra."

"Sir."

"Hell? I got to tell you twice? Come here, Haley."

Medic Haley stood next to the Captain, and waited in anxiousness to see what the Captain would say now.

"The view." The Captain explained, without taking his eyes off the sunrise.

"Sir?"

The Captain looked at Medic Haley again with disbelief. 'They should give you an exam to enter UNSC. You have to be this smart to enter." The Captain said jokingly as he made his hands parallel, 6 inches from each other.

Haley laughed slightly. "The view, you mean the sunrise?"

"Yeah, whatever. They say on this planet, the sun starts rising at exactly 0730 hundred. It's 7:32."

Medic Haley had nothing to say. She also thought that a hard asses watching beautiful things should be an oxymoron.

The Captain took another puff of the cigar and threw it away, half finished. "We move at 0900 hours. Alert the troops."

The Captain walked back into camp to catch some shut-eye before the big battle.

================================================================

The Master Chief slouched as he reached for more soup. He poured it into his bowl and sipped it up immediately.

"Nothing better than cold soup in the morning." Master Chief said, as he pulled his armor farther away from his body. The armor was feeling tight, as he had it on for more than a week. His helmet was laid next to him, ready to be forced on at an attack.

"Deal with it. I once at dirt to try and survive." Ada replied, sipping her soup merrily.

The Chief frowned. He starred at Ada for a while with penetrating eyes. "Yeah, Ada… I know. I was there!"

A mission gone wrong, they fell helplessly into a deep cavern. They lasted 2 days in the underground cavern until a rescue crew blew the top open and a Pelican rescued them. They were forced to eat dirt in the underground cavern, as no other food was provided.

This base was made 2 days ago, after the '"Battle on the Forerunner's Plains", the Marines set up base. The 1st day was to rest, while the second day was to prepare, readying the bases for attacks. Also resupplying the bases with excess Marines. There were 4 bases in all, and they surrounded the Forerunner city. The point was to distract the Covenant from one side, so they build their forces on that side, but they leave their opposite side exposed. Then a surprised attack will be launched. An A-quality plan.

All their vehicles have been resuplied, and the ODST were planning a perfect plan.

Jumping into a live city is never an easy job. Too many buildings make for easy death traps. A wrong move and you'd be impaled in a city building.

So the Hell Jumpers were spending the past 2 days to make sure they can land in the streets. Of course with the help of AI's, the job was easy to calculate the speed the battleship should be going, and the time to launch to make a perfect, desired launch.

Holding off attacks on Alpha Base A was an extraordinarily hard plight. With many of the vehicles in for repairs, the Marines had to take on advancing forces, from Covenant, to Covenant vehicles. Luckily, no Poltergeists have been sighted. If that were the case, Alpha Base would be in rubble.

Marine weapons were almost useless to Banshees [Poltergeist], and the vehicles were in repairs, so it would take too long to stop repair and start them up again. By then, Alpha Base A would be no more.

But on the bright side, Alpha Base B-D were fine, as Covenant officials expected only 1 base was in existence, and that was A. A mistake that would alternately lead to their destruction in the end.

"This is Medic Elmyra Haley. Can everyone hear me?" Haley called over the loudspeakers set up in the 4 corners of the tent.

The Marines of the "soup kitchen" laughed. "It's a one way speaker!" A Marine yelled, as more laughter broke out.

"Hello?" Haley asked again.

"Civilians. No idea of Military tech." Eddie said to the Spartans as he shook his head.

"Um, anyways, for those who can hear me, we move at 9 am. Captain Hanson's orders."

Marines laughed a little again. "I don't know 9… what is 9 am?" The Marines laughed again. Seemed as they were having fun. But was instantly broken as someone called, "Attention on deck!"

Everyone got into attention, the way you were suppose to be if you were sitting down; by putting their hands to their sides, and sitting back straight.

The ones who were standing, stood at attention. Not turning to see who was the officer on deck. But they immediately knew who it was by the strong, loud voice.

"You think it's funny to laugh at a Civilian?" Lieutenant Dana Glover asked, rhetorically. He walked up to a standing Marine who was in the Lieutenants Squad. "Huh? You think it's funny?" He yelled to him.

The Marine shook, but recovered and remained straight. He gulped, as Lieutenant Glover was the biggest asshole in the Corp right now. "Sir, no, sir!"

The Lieutenant turned his head to hear the Marine better. "No what, Private?"

"I'm a PFC, sir!"

The Lieutenant smiled. Now you're not. I asked you a question, which you failed to answer, and you questioned my authority. Say hello to your new Private Marines!"

"Hello, Private Brookeburne!" Everyone said in unison.

The Lieutenant turned to Private Brookeburne. "Now answer the question, Private."

Brookeburne felt like hitting the Lieutenant, but that would be a big mistake, as the Lieutenant would 'lay him out'. "Sir, I do not think it's funny to laugh at a Civilian, sir!"

"Good, lesson learned." The Lieutenant walked out quickly to go handle what he had to do, but he was like that, once in a while he'd pop in silently.

Everyone relaxed now, and Private Brookeburne smacked a cup full of orange juice to the ground. He hated Lieutenant Glover as much as everyone did.

"Tough break." Some Marines comforted him. "It's not good to get worked up before a big battle. Relax, get some sleep."

The Chief sighed, good thing he didn't belong to the Lieutenants group; Romeo Company.

================================================================

1 hour and a few minutes later, the base was ready to move. The yelling of commands woke the Master Chief. It scared him, as he thought it was the first day of Boot Camp, the first step of the Spartan Program.

But he quickly realized this was much worst than the Spartan Program. They were going into the biggest base the Covenant had, with many sniper positions, and with their new weapon, this would be no picnic, no matter how many Marines the Spartans had for help.

The Master Chief situated his helmet and left the Spartans tent. He saw that even more 'Hogs were brought, and a few more Spiders. Along with the solo Scorpion, in the front, he could see Marines picking their 'Hogs. This time around, the Spartans had their own Spiders to ride instead of the 'Hogs they previously had to use.

Messages followed by static were going back and forth, as everyone down here and in the _December's Hail_ were using the same CC; FORERUNNER-CC.

_"This is Hell Jumper Squad 1, prepped and ready to be launched."_

_"This is Hell Jumper Squad 2, us two as well."_

_"This is Hell Jumper Squad 3, us three."_

_"This is ODST Commander Lloyd June, all my Squads ready for launch, set Launch Sequence."_

_"Roger that, Leela, prepare Launch Sequence."_

_"No problem.... Launch Sequence ready. Tell me when."_

More messages passed through the Master Chief's ears, but none he understood. He walked to his Scorpion and boarded it. He was welcomed by 4 Marines who already were on the treads already.

"Everyone ready?" Captain Hanson asked over the CC.

The leader of each squad answered with a powerful roger.

"Alright everyone, move!"

Engines started, making a loud roar to hear over. The Chief started the Scorpion tank, and started moving it. It rolled over small mounds of dirt, and compressed it without force. The 'Hogs followed him. Alpha Base 'A' rolled up a hill, and at once saw the city they had to take over. It wasn't that high, as the highest building to be seen was a 4 story building. This eased a little pressure on the fact of snipers.

The Chief prayed for no more Spartan loss, or Marine loss at that. He wondered if they would take over this city. A stupid question it was, as he already knew the answer. It was a positive yes.

**_To Be Continued…_**


	3. Exposed

* * *

Hey guys, it's me, autumn, and this is my new installment of Halo. I hope you enjoy it, I added a slight twist to it. Even though the twist only lasted a short while, I believe it was cool enough. Enjoy!

* * *

**Halo: The 4 Horsemen**

****

**SECTION III=========================== **

**EXPOSED **

**CHAPTER 9 ========================== **

****

**16th Unit 19th Cycle (Covenant Calendar)/**

**Epsilon Eridani System Covenant Head Ship__ **

**En Route to Earth**

The ship slowly rocked forward and backwards, like a gigantic crater in the arms of the Multiverse. The pilot at the helm was a newbie, but he knew how to navigate better than anyone on the ship, which was needed to hasten the ride.

The Covenant, for the battle ahead, made a new weapon for their Frigates and Battleships. A weapon they called EMPC. Electro Magnetic Plasma Cannon. Being just like a regular cannon, it would burn holes through the enemy battleships, but those that stayed running, if any, would get discharged of energy, and float helplessly in space until the Covenant pick them off. No use of weapons of any sort, so their deaths were inevitable.

"How long?" Headmistress Alia 'Xomemee asked the tiny Jackal beside the helm, as she laid her head on her hands. She was bored of waiting, and wanted to fight already.

The poor Jackal jumped 1 unit into the air, and quickly turned to the table decorated with a map of this Universe. The Elite behind the helm laughed at the puny Jackal, and his attempts to impress 'Xomemee. But no lower classes could do such the sort. Only higher classmen, like Elites or even Brutes—occasionally Hunters, could impress Headmistress enough to trust them with high duties, such as navigating a ship, or assassinating a Human pestilence.

"Um, Headmistress 'Xomemee… we will make our land on Earth in 92 units." The tiny Jackal looked up at the Headmistress sitting high on her floating chair—being able to fly by the technology they had stole from Humans; Opgravity. "By the 4th Unit 22nd Cycle, we should be on Earth's floor mat… Ma'am…"

"Considering the map the Rebels gave us are accurate."

The entire bridge turned to a large screen besides the Headmistress' chair. High Council Member Yala 'Faromee snapped on screen. Everyone on the bridge bowed to 1 knee in 1 swift moment. Even the mighty Headmistress bowed her head.

"Yala 'Faromee! Wasn't expecting you. We welcome you to the _Fatal Predator_." 'Xomemee welcomed him, raising her head a bit, as to see the Council Member's face.

"Please rise everyone, I just wanted to wish you all good luck. Fighting the Humans on their home front isn't an easy chore. But I believe you have sufficient units."

"More than enough, sir. We will obliterate the Human adversary. We _will_ make you proud."

"That's what I like to hear 'Xomemee. You make it back, and you'll get a promotion to Council Member 14."

Council Members were a rising ruling body. They had no number limit in their council. Their numbers could rise from 5 to 200. Yala 'Faromee was a Council Member 4, and once the old Council Members [1-3] expired, then 'Faromee would advance into higher ranks. As 'Faromee was only on his 40th Cycle. And the upper members were on their 60th to 80th Cycles. 'Faromee figured he'd make a good impression on all Covenant, so when he becomes leader, the Covenant will follow him without insubordination.

'Xomemee smiled at the thought as she supportively nodded. "Just save that spot for me, sir, that job is as good as mine."

The Council Member nodded once more, and then flicked off the screen. 'Xomemee smiled. "Full speed ahead Zola 'Arkomee! I want to make this trip in less than 92 units. If you do make it, with my new power in the Council, I will promote you to Headmaster."

The Elite at the helm saluted her. "Headmistress, I'll make it in less than 82 units."

'Xomemee pouted. She knew the job would be hers, she just didn't want to wait that long.

* * *

The Master Chief threw his last grenade, which was a Plasma Grenade he had picked off from a dead Jackal and threw Shade stationed on a corner. The adhesive glued itself to a leg of the Shade, and exploded as the frightened Grunt tried to jump off. He was caught in the hail of Plasma, and was burned severely.

Mack, who was next to the Master Chief fired off his MA8B, decapitating a Jackal with its shield facing the Master Chief, completely opened to Mack.

The street the Spartans were on was no aware of them and was fighting back. There were many Covenant, enough that if you were in a Pelican 40 meters above the streets, it would look like the street was moving.

The Master Chief turned his body 45 degrees around; his feet planted on the ground, and fired a buckshot at an Elite who was getting to close. The Elite's shield flickered and malfunctioned. Mack took that time to fire 3 controlled assault rifle bullets into the Elite's skull. Blue blood poured from the Elite's holes on his face.

A brave but foolish Grunt got to close to the Master Chief's leg. The Chief kicked the small Grunt, as it landed on its back and tried to get up, but like a turtle on its back, it was difficult. 2 Covenant Grunts landed on each of the Chief's shoulders. They both had Plasma Grenades in their hands. And they planned to release the Plasma through the Master Chief's missing visor. The first attempt ended in failure, as Mack put 5 bullets through the Grunt's back, and broke his spine, but he was dead either way. The second attempt however, almost resulted in a triumph as the Plasma's bonding agent glued to the right side of the Master Chief's helmet.

The Grunt was brought down shortly after, as Mack put 1 bullet through the breathing apparatus of the Grunt. After falling back a few meters, the flammable methane gas exploded, exploding the Grunts head completely off.

The Master Chief pulled off his helmet, as the shield disappeared off the now gone helmet, and hugged around the Chief's head. The Chief heaved his helmet toward a group of Jackals. Upon hitting the floor, the Plasma Grenade exploded, it contraventioned the Master Chief's helmet.

The group of Jackals were also destroyed, leaving a gapping hole where they were once situated.

"This is getting too hot, Mack." The helmet less Master Chief told Mack, as they both hid behind a barrel for cover. "We'd better get out of here."

Mack nodded, and threw a HE-DP Frag to cover them while they ran to a safer zone.

Once the grenade blew, and Covenant screams were heard, the Master Chief and Mack took off running. As they ran, they noticed a nicely protected building, with a makeshift barrier around it.

"These look like the ones made by Marines." Mack added as he studied the barrier.

"That means there were or are Marines around here. Or maybe even Spartan 2 was around."

Mack nodded, as he followed the Master Chief into the building. There were spread out beds on the floor, and assault weapons shells alongside the front of the building, along the glass doors, reinforced by 2 inches of metal. It looked like a camping spot. And it was clear to the Master Chief that this was where Spartan 2 was held up for the last 3 days.

On a table aft of the beds were a couple of nutrient supplements and stim packs. And that reassured the Chief that Spartan 2 _was_ here. Stim packs were only handed out to Spartans, for the simple fact that the suits were draining. And after a while, it left the Spartans with no strength. The stim pack brought back all that energy lost. And the nutrient supplement was simply their food in the field.

"Couldn't be long since they left." Mack called over to the Chief, as Mack picked up a still lit cigarette. The initials BB were inscribed on a small crimson paper wrapped around the cigarette's butt. The Master Chief took the Cigarette from Mack's hands, and tried to recall who smoked Cigarettes labeled with BB.

It immediately came to him. Spartan 233; Barry Bossworth. Master Chief of Spartan 2.

"So they must be nearby, radio them in Mack."

Mack nodded and did just that. "This is Spartan 3, can you hear me Spartan 2? Can you hear me?"

Mack's answer was a garbled mess of static. After a minute, Mack gave up. "Their radio must be down. That must have been the reason the _Hail_ couldn't reach them. Not because they were out of range."

The Master Chief had no time to comment, as 2 different types of trilling shrieks came from high above. The Chief knew that one was a Banshee he had so much experience with, and the other a Poltergeist. One he was just introduced to 3 days ago, and hated so much already.

The sound of multiple Poltergeist shrieked mutually, and gave the Chief the impression there was more than 1.

"Let's take them down before they warn anyone of this location."

"Yeah, if they don't warn the Covenant, I'm sure the large hurdle outside will." Mack added matter-of-factly.

The Chief drew his holstered M12D, as Mack drew 'True Shot'. Mack was going for a 1 hit kill, while the Chief was going for a commandeering of the new Poltergeist. And a Handgun was a great way to kill the driver and leave the vehicle intact.

In no time, the Banshee was out of the air. It crashed in front of the building, sending pieces of shrapnel in a circular radius, but the makeshift barrier provided perfect cover.

The Master Chief shot the bottom of the Poltergeist, hoping if it was anything like the Banshees, it would go right through and kill the driver, just leave a little hole. Success—as the bullet pressed through the soft belly of the Poltergeist.

The Poltergeist spun out of control and crashed into its brother Poltergeist, ripping off its left wings. Unfortunately, the 1st Poltergeist crashed into a building, and exploded promptly. The 2nd, however, lingered above the makeshift barrier, slowly descending.

Once it ran out of enough power to hold it up, the Poltergeist nose-dived straight down. The pilot knew he was as good as dead, so he'd try to make as much damage as possible before he met his maker.

The Master Chief and Mack headed inside Spartan 2's sleeping quarters. To their regret, as the Poltergeist slammed through the steel barrier, and metal enforced door, and entered the building, facing the Chief and Mack.

A blinding green light came from the Poltergeist's cannon as the Master Chief and Mack took cover behind the strongest thing that was still standing. The Poltergeist released a Plasma comet nowhere in particular. The Covenant vehicle was caught in its own fire and exploded, in a mixed fire of red and green, along with the entire first floor.

* * *

"Move! Move! Move! Go! Hurry!"

Commands were being shouted across the evident highlands as vehicles sprung into action. This was Alpha Base B, it was a bit late, but it was fine. They had met a trio of 'lost' Poltergeist, and had to slow advance until they were taken down.

Alpha Base B had just reached the city limits. They were perpendicular to Alpha Base A now, and they were planning to meet with them, and fight together. But that, of course, was after they had secured the right side of the city.

They hadn't started the fight yet, and they were already down 14 Marines, 3 'Hogs, and 1 Spider. But they knew Alpha Base D would soon meet with them, they had planned that, since the route Alpha Base D had to take, the Southern side, was abandoned of Covenant.

The Covenant were primarily based on the West side, where Alpha Base A was suppose to proceed through. Then would follow the North Side, then the East. It was a substandard move by the Covenant, since it left them with many weaknesses, position wise, and left the Humans with the element of surprise.

Many Marines were walking, as there was no enough vehicles to cover all 4 bases, so each base got supplies corresponding to their route.

The Marines used 'Hogs for cover, so no stray Plasma could hit them, only planned, directed Plasma could hurt them. They looked around suspiciously, as they could feel Goosebumps forming on their necks, and that was never a good sign.

Captain Jessie Reynolds rode on the 2nd 'Hog. While he wanted to be the first, his Company wouldn't let him. He was too important to let go first.

He drove on the passenger seat, and turned to see a Marine pull up on his right. He nodded at the Marine, who nodded back. As the Marine turned back, he was caught off guard by a Plasma blast. The Plasma blew off his head, and sprayed blood all over the Captain.

The Captain wiped his eyes, and as he opened them again. A few more Marines had come across a Plasma shot to the face. The base was confused, no doubt about it. Captain Reynolds stared up ahead, and noticed shy outlines in front of the base. The Captain drew his M12D and fired at one of the outlines. Followed by a scream, and a sudden appearance of an Elite. The base was alarmed, but reacted quickly, and shot at thin air in front of them.

Many bullets hit nothing _but_ air, while others met their targets and were rewarded by a downed Elite. The Elites up front took off their camouflage and showed how many there were. But the Elites seemed to be multiplying, as more appeared beside the base, and even behind. Alpha Base B had just walked into an ambush. Seemed those Poltergeists weren't lost after all, but were confirming that Alpha Base B was on its way.

Plasma fire raced back and forth toward the base, killing many Marines in seconds. The base retaliated by firing the Scorpion they had been delegated, taking out over 10 Elites in 1 blast. But this was not enough, as the Elites seemed to be multiplying still. Elites appeared over the vehicles with suddenness, wielding a Plasma Blade, and killed the Marines who occupied them with swiftness.

Until the final vehicle came, which was that of Captain Jessie Reynolds, Sergeant Kenny Smith, and Private Jenna Wilson. Sergeant Smith was the first to go, an Elite pulled up beside the Sergeant's door, and stabbed him multiple times in the chest. Next was Private Wilson. An Elite came from behind, grabbed her arms so she couldn't flail, and use his free hand to slit her throat open quickly.

The Captain wasn't going down without a fight. Jumping out of the 'Hog, he pulled a HE-DP Frag from his chest strap. "See you in hell!" He chucked the Frag into a nearby 'Hog, which was carrying most of the supplies. The grenade exploded, causing nearby grenades to explode, which at the end, caused a chain reaction, and made the truck itself explode. The blast was big enough to catch nearby 'Hogs, who had the bodies of Marines carrying grenades of their own. They added fuel to the fire. The blast kept going until it reached the last 'Hog, and detonated off the Marine's grenades.

The city block laid destroyed. Nothing stood, barely anything was still left. Under the shambles of the fallen buildings that were taken out during the explosion, laid a dormant Scorpion, still intact—but couldn't be said about the rest of the vehicles and bodies.

* * *

The Master Chief's audible alarm rang vociferously, and reverberated against the now hollow first floor. The beds were burned to large piles of ashes—the tables, supplements, stim packs, ammunition… all melted by the heat of the Plasma comet.

The Chief pushed away a piece of perforated cement that had chunked away from the ceiling. The audible alarm was still ringing, and his shields showed no signs of recharging.

"John? Are you still there?" The Master Chief paged the AI, as he looked down and his parts of his armor were missing. And what wasn't missing had holes in it. "John? Can you hear me?"

No answer…

The Master Chief looked around, remembering Mack was with him when they were blown up. The Chief then presumed to moving rocks, which once was ceiling pieces, trying to find Mack. When the Chief finally moved a large piece of rock, he heard an audible alarm that wasn't his own. He dug toward the sound, and quickly found Mack. But Mack laid still. The Master Chief tried to keep his cool, but couldn't help it.

"Mack! Mack! Are you alright, Mack?" The Master Chief used his regular strength to roll over rocks, as the suit provided nothing but an empty ringing alarm. The Master Chief pulled Mack up close. The Spartan's helmet was burned primarily around the visor. But the Master Chief couldn't see his face, so he pulled the helmet off.

Mack's face was burned as a result from the visor, as the visor was a heat conductor. The Chief had no visor, it was broken off by a Brute, lucky him. He was alive because of it. But now Mack, with out a doubt, was gone. Even John was now gone. And by some joke of God, the Spartan John was killed by an explosion, and the AI was damned to the same fate. Nothing the Chief could do about it.

The MJOLNIR IV armor was just holding the Master Chief back, adding weight to him, providing no shield, and the constant alarm reminded him of Mack, so he took it off; and once again became Nickolas. But this was a bad time to be naked. He was in the middle of a live city that was after him. And he had lost 2 close friends today. It seemed that nothing else could go wrong today.

But God had a sense of humor, as a dozen Elites came to check out the ruins.

**CHAPTER 10 ========================== **

**10:05am September 15th, 2581 (Civilian Calendar)/**

**Epsilon Echelon System**

**Forerunners City**

Nickolas braced himself for the oncoming battle. He had thought about slipping through the back, but without any weapons, he'd be as good as dead. So he figured he would ambush a few unexpecting Elites, take their weapons, and the shot them all dead. Easier said than done.

2 Elites walked calmly around the rocks of cement, trying to find any survivors, or even an explanation to what had happened. They, soon after, found pieces of a Poltergeist wing. The Elite turned to his comrades and said something in Covenant language. Too long of a sentence for it to be something like, 'I found a Poltergeist' or 'This is what caused the explosion. The Elite got on high alert, and started to search more fiercely. Seemed the Elite to the others there were humans around. Apparently, Poltergeists don't crash themselves.

As the Elite passed the jagged rock Nick was hiding behind, he sprung into action. Punching as hard as he could to the Elite's spine, nearly cracking it, but without the strength of the MJOLNIR, he was still to far from accomplishing it. The Elite fell forward, and turned around, to meet a kick to the chin. The Elite feel backwards into a crevice between two rocks. Nick made us of this and kicked the wobbly rock with his boot.

Luckily, the boots of the MJOLNIR didn't melt; they were under cement by the time the heat of the Plasma reached them, creating a protective layer.

The rock fell, crushing the Elite. An Elite from the back then caught Nick. He kicked off the rock directly under him, and slipped straight up through the Elite's arms. After slipping out, Nick pushed off the Elite's arm, and flipped over him.

Nick was powerful in the MJOLNIR armor, but without it, he was agile, and could do many acrobatic flips with ease.

As Nick landed, he did a sweeper kick, knocking the Elite off his feet. Nick turned to see an Elite headed his way. He had a Needler in his hands, but wasn't using it. Nick immediately noticed they were trying to catch him, not kill him. They knew without his armor, he would be an easy prisoner to contain.

Without hesitation, Nick sprinted out the back. He couldn't get caught now. He knew the Covenant would hold him for ransom, and force the Marines to pull back. He was too priceless to lose. And he knew nobody was going to risk losing him. But that would leave an option; would the Covenant really let him go if the Marines followed their demands? Either way, it was too dangerous to stick around.

Nick rounded the corner to find Alpha Base A passing by 2 blocks over. And they had just started to appear, lead by the Scorpion that was once his own. If he were to head there now, he'd reach the convoy by mid section. But the boots he had on would slow him down. They weight at least 20 pounds. He took them out and moved his feet around in his regular white sneakers. He started to run, happy he was going to get to safety. Without his armor, he was useless, especially without weapons. Not even grenades or a simple combat knife.

As he reached the first of the 2 blocks, a pack of the search Elites met with him. But Nick just pushed ahead, tackling them, hurting himself more than he did them. But an Elite caught him with a jab to the left cheek. Nick stumbled and fell, but picked himself back up. An Elite pistol whipped Nick on his back with a Plasma Rifle. Nick let out a hard groan, and fell to the ground again, where he was repeatedly kicked. He did another sweeper kick, and knocked all those who were near him.

He stood up and wiped blood from his mouth, as the world around him shook. He could hear the distorted commands being shouted from Alpha Base, but it seemed so far away, as his vision blurred. Nick dropped his pace a little, as he was feeling lightheaded, and fell to his knees. He tried to call out to the Company, but a light moan was the only thing he could do.

An Elite came walking slowly behind him, and lifted his Plasma Rifle in the air. Nick closed his eyes as he turned his body to face the Elite, and reopened them. The Elite brought the Rifle's butt sharply across Nick's face, and knocked him unconscious.

* * *

"All right men! You have been chosen to try a new prototype of the Helljumpers Divers." Commander Lloyd June said to his 2 squads—Alpha & Bravo, as he walked quickly between them.

The new Helljumper pods were now called Divers. They took more punishment as they traveled through the atmospheres, so the only way the Helljumpers would die would be because of faulty mistakes. The _new_ prototypes were tested insignificantly, but not in real combat, and not for real. As in, no one has used them to 'jump' out of something.

The new Divers were lined up against the wall; all had small, protruding triangular wings out of the side of them. Many figured they would be used to slow down the fall, and lead up to the reason for the prototypes. At the front of the diver was an orange number, outlined in white.

"I wish you luck, and hope you come out of it alive."

Many of the squad members gulped. Why did they need luck? They had advanced so much in technology… did they really need luck? Luck was just a sugarcoated way to say hope this works and you come out with your ass still in place.

Commander June gulped. He had never been good at talking to large crowds. "Well! What the hell are you waiting for? Get into those Divers!"

"Sir, yes, sir!" The Helljumpers yelled with a smile. They orderly entered their designated pod.

The Commander stepped out of the catwalk where the squads were standing. As he did, the catwalk dropped, leaving the ground below the Divers free. Now they were ready to launch.

"Leela?"

"Yes Commander June?"

"Launch Sequence ready?

"Ready! Launch on your order!"

Commander June took a look at his brave squad and smiled. "Launch."

The metal pincher that held the Diver to the wall, retracted, leaving the Diver suspended in the air for a millisecond, then proceeded to fall out of the battleship.

Commander June did a Helljumper style salute; where he'd push a leg out a few inches, bring it back hard, and salute as the heels met.

The Helljumpers felt a tingling sensation as they fell through the atmosphere with no problem. The tinted windows left almost no visibility, but it looked damn cool. No one argued about that.

After a few seconds, as the Divers reached the altitude of 750 meters, the triangular wings extracted, creating a now airborne Diver.

The 2 squads cheered over DIVER-CC. The new add on would give them an advantage, allowing them to land where they please. But to their surprise, a blue screen switched on over their tinted windows. It showed the front of the Diver. The screen then flashed a white message, "Transforming". Soon following, the front of the Diver opened 2 square hatches, and out popped 2 machine guns.

The continued cheering over the CC, as Commander June smiled to himself. "Success." He turned on his DIVER-CC. "Good job, OSDT, now go make us proud!"

The Helljumpers swimmed around in the sky a while, before they lowered altitude, and finally decided to put their vehicles to good use.

* * *

Nickolas' vision finally came back, but in a blur motion. Which soon cleared up. He heard Covenant language in the background, and quickly remembered what had happened. As his vision cleared completely, he saw 4 Elites surrounding him. He was tied up to a chair with a type of rope he had never seen before.

"Finally, he's awake. The human that has caused so much trouble was so easy to capture. He's not so tough without his armor." 1 Elite talked loudly, mostly to himself, but also for the human. The rest of the Elites agreed.

Nick moved around to look at all 4 Elites. "What are you gonna do with me?"

The Elites laughed. Apparently, the thought of someone who has killed millions being afraid for his life was un-honoring. "I thought you'd be more brave and only worry about your fellow man's life."

Nick snarled under his breath. He wanted to make sure the plan wasn't so that he would be used as a hostage. But he couldn't let them know. If that wasn't the plan—if they hadn't thought of it yet, then he'd give them an idea. So he just relaxed, and would wait to _see_ what the plan was.

"We're taking you to Earth. So you can sit back and watch your Planet die," An Elite took the liberty to spill the beans.

"With this little amount of Covenant?" Nick slapped himself on the inside. His habit has broken out. To retaliate himself, he decided to aggravate them—so it would seem he had a point to ask that. "You'll be crushed no matter how many you have!"

The head Elite smacked Nick with his backhand. Nick snapped back, and hung it before him. He slowly lifted his head from the hanging position, as blood dripped to his black shirt and black jeans. The Elite lifted his hand to smack Nick again, but a quick hand stopped him.

"Easy 'Sanamee, we need his unharmed for now. Maybe after you can beat him. But the Captain will have your head if you hurt him."

The Elites turned to face the voice and saluted when they saw their second-in-command.

Kana 'Tolimee stood fierce and ready as ever. "Don't let your guard down around him, men. He may not seem like much, but he can be dangerous if underestimated."

The 1st Lieutenant received a collective 'Sir, yes, sir.' Before he exited the room as quietly as he entered.

Nick smirked. He had always been taught to strike fear into the hearts of the kidnappers by taunting them. He was told it would make them nervous, and as you escape, they will be more vulnerable.

"You know he's right." Nick said, slyly as he averted his stare out of an elliptical shaped window.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

Nick noticed through the window that there were stars… and endless darkness. He _was_ in space. Headed for Earth. They were going to attack Earth. And since Earth would not be ready for an attack, they would get blindsided by a Covenant attack.

"Uh-uh…" Nick had a tough time getting the words out. But he forced his eyes off the empty space and to the Elites in front of him. "Uh, he's right. I am dangerous. That's why I'm gonna escape and kill you all. Then I will proceed to the bridge, where I will kill your Captain and Lieutenant.

"Then I will hijack the ship, and join the rest of the fleet. Where I will then attack the unexpecting Covenant. Picking them off, from last to first. And then I will be a hero."

The Covenant looked at each other with wide eyes. They then broke out in laughter with each other.

* * *

Nick sighed as he looked at the roof of the detention cell. His attempt to scare them ended up in the throwing him in a detention center. At least he wasn't alone. There were 5 locked up Marines here. Each in different cells, but the locks to each cell faced the other.

"What you in here for?" Asked a friendly Marine. Nick could almost immediately see the Marine was in here for a long time from his bony arms and his five o' clock shadow.

"Tried to scare the Covenant."

"Did it work?" The man asked as he started to move toward his bars, so he could get a better listen.

"Well… after they stopped laughing, they punched me in the stomach and threw me in here." Nick said, and then couldn't help but laugh, as the contagious laughter went around, the entire Marine Company of 5 broke into instant laughter.

"So what's to eat?" Nick asked, trying to lighten up the mood a little more.

"Whatever you can find." Another random Marine cried out.

Again, all the prisoners broke out laughing. Seemed the trip of 18 days wouldn't be as harsh with friends making you laugh.

**SECTION IV=========================== **

**REBEL STRIKE **

**CHAPTER 11 ==========================**

**9:13am October 2nd, 2581 (Civilian Calendar)/**

**Epsilon Eridani System Covenant Frigate _Sinister Fusion_**

**En Route to Earth**

* * *

I hope you liked this section, cause I like writing it. You also may have noticed that during the end there, my way of writing changed, it was because last time I wrote in it was over almost a month ago. So my way of writing changed. Hope it isn't too much of a change. And you also may have noticed I cut the section off short. It was because I had ran myself into a corner. And if I were to delete some stuff, I would have to delete it all they way to where Nick got captured. And I didn't want to have to have wrote all that, and then just delete it... you understand. Well, please review if you feel like, and stick around, cause in under a month, section IV will be up; REBEL STRIKE. Take 2 guesses what it's going to be about...! 


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